16 numbered turtles found: shelter puzzles - "were they stolen?"

Created: 05/27/2022, 12:16 p.m

By: Johanna Werning

16 turtles were released in Porz - now the Cologne-Dellbrück animal shelter is taking care of the mysterious find.

© Sylvia Hemmerling/animal shelter Cologne-Dellbrück/dpa

16 turtles were released in Cologne.

The animal shelter in Dellbrück is now taking care of the reptiles with the mysterious numbers on their shells.

Cologne – The Cologne-Dellbrück animal shelter has 16 new residents: And there are still many question marks around them.

The animals are small baby turtles that have apparently been abandoned in the Cologne-Porz district.

They were found by a passer-by.

The origin of the reptiles: uncertain.

Particularly curious: all 16 mini tortoises are numbered - the numbers 1 to 16 are on the shells, reports 24RHEIN.

Cologne: passer-by finds 16 turtles: "Are they stolen?"

But first things first: On Wednesday, May 25th, the Tierheim-Köln-Dellbrück announced that 16 small turtles in Porz were simply abandoned.

"The 16 armored friends, neatly numbered on their backs, were sitting in a yellow Kärcher box when a passer-by found them in Porz-Zündorf," says a Facebook post.

Now the animal shelter in Dellbrück takes care of the reptiles.

However, many of the animal rescuers' questions remain unanswered: "We can make absolutely no sense of where the little tortoises come from.

Were they specially bred and then no buyers were found?

Were they stolen?” The unsatisfied response from the shelter: “You don’t know.”

And Facebook users are also puzzled about the origin of the tortoises.

"It's mysterious.

They must have been lost.

Hope for a good ending” it says, among other things.

Another user suspects more of a crime: “I think it’s more likely to be stolen – don’t you have to have a cites for them?

Without this you can not sell the animals - is the possible thief vlt.

then sometimes noticed.” So far, however, this is all just a guess.

Where the turtles come from and why they were released is unclear.

Animal shelter Cologne-Dellbrück: New home for mysterious turtles

However, it is clear.

A new and, above all, species-appropriate home is needed.

"We will now register them with the Lower Landscape Authority and then see to it that they find a species-appropriate home.

Because that’s what No. 8, No. 31, No. 16 and all these others more than deserve after the humble start in life,” the shelter continues.

Only then can the mysterious turtles be given to new owners.

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