Loved lying in the sun and running around in the grass

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard Zoo is sad to announce that it has made the difficult decision to euthanize our 36-year-old African spurred tortoise, Tate, due to a poor prognosis following extensive surgery to remove a large bladder stone.

In early July, a routine exam revealed that Tate had a large bladder stone. Although the stone did not affect him physically, a stone of this size could eventually prevent him from urinating or even cause his bladder to rupture, said zoo veterinarian Dr. Rachel Turner.

When surgery at their own L3 Harris Animal Care Center failed to remove the stone, they decided to call in an outside veterinary team who performed a more complicated procedure: They created a “flap” in the plastron (lower part of his shell) by cutting three sides and leaving one side attached. The flap was resealed with epoxy.

The three-hour surgery was successful and Tate initially recovered well, receiving antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication for pain. After a week, his plastron flap showed signs of dislodgement, but the veterinary team was able to reattach it.

“He didn’t like being in the hospital, but it was important to keep his incision clean. His caregivers came by every day to make sure he had time to walk around outside,” Dr. Turner said. “He was very active during these sessions and loved to lie in the sun and run around in the grass.”

Tate has been examined by our veterinary team on several occasions and a recent examination revealed that his plastron flap was again dislocated and was leaking. Tate was put back under anesthesia for a repeat CT scan and to re-evaluate his plastron flap and body wall incision.

During this follow-up examination, our veterinary team found that the incision in his body wall was filled with dead, infected tissue. The team surgically removed all dead and infected tissue from the area and applied a honey dressing.

When changing the dressing the next morning, the veterinary team found that the incision in the body wall leading to the coelom, the body cavity, was open. This meant that the coelom was contaminated and there was a very high risk of infection within the coelom, including the internal organs.

To proceed, the team would need to cut him open again, examine all visible internal organs (access is limited as we only removed a small window from his plastron), flush the coelom very thoroughly, and then possibly leave the incision in the body wall open and dress it with bandages.

“We discussed with the entire team that this is an extremely risky treatment and the prognosis is very serious,” said Dr. Turner. “At this point, the decision was made to euthanize the animal.”

A African spurred tortoise looks at a jack-o-lantern. Tate came to our zoo in 1998 and most recently lived in our kangaroo walkabout in our Lands of Change area, sharing space with our herd of red kangaroos, emus and muntjacs.

“One of my favorite memories of Tate is the day we introduced him to the Kangaroo Runway,” said Kristen Ralbovsky, area director for Lands of Change. “It was Lilly the kangaroo’s birthday, and she spent the day stomping her feet around the yard whenever Tate came near her.”

Tate was a special animal who brought joy to many of our guests, Kristen said. The animal care team at Lands of Change was touched by the number of people who asked how he was doing since his first surgery.

“I will always be grateful for how much I learned about reptile care from working with Tate and how he pushed me to think outside my comfort zone,” said Kristen.

Rear end and feet of an African spurred tortoise Tate was zookeeper Spring Williams’ favorite animal. Her fond memories of Tate are of him digging in his burrow all day, eating all the grass in the enclosure, pushing food bowls all over the yard, and of course, walking over the kangaroos. Tate was the only one who could keep Lilly the kangaroo in check.

Every time Spring sees hibiscus flowers and tomatoes – Tate’s favorite foods – she thinks of him. She said this turtle was the cutest when he perched outside the doors (and the keepers couldn’t open them). When they tried to open them, he would stick his head out of his shell, look at them, and then crawl back into his shell. “That way he always had his say,” Spring said.

“It was always rewarding to handle him, pet him and train him,” Spring said. “He will live in my heart forever.”