[DEX] Pinta Giant Tortoise Release

Finding Food
He. was. Big. Enormous even. He was impossible to lift by oneself. He was a fresh adult but that didn’t stop him from being ginormous. Regardless, as one would say, he was a gentle giant. Although he seemed to constantly be lonely, unfortunately there wasn’t anything Gabriel could do to help that issue at this exact moment but once he was ready for release he would be released into an environment where he could meet other tortoises. In the meantime Gabriel watched the first “test” he was putting the massive male tortoise through. The animal's enclosure was near perfect, made specifically with the information Gabriel had gotten from his research about the tortoise’s natural habitat. After all, how could he hope for this animal to be prepared if he’s not prepared as close to his natural habitat as possible. The enclosure was grassy in some parts, with large dirt patches, covered with sticks and rocks. There was a well sized, relatively natural looking, watering hole for the tortoise to do whatever it was tortoises did in ponds. There was also a patch with specially picked strawberry plants, to help the tortoise naturally forage for food. The walls were made of wondrous rock, high enough that the tortoise couldn't escape but low enough for the animal to be observed. Gabriel was rather pleased as he watched the tortoise wander around before finding the new, healthy strawberry plant and then the tortoise began to eat with little hesitation.

Finding Shelter
After successfully finding the newly planted food, the next thing was for the tortoise to find the different types of shelter that were built into the enclosure. There were a few different options, a burrow, which Gabriel didn’t think would interest the massive beast but he added it anyway. There were options of bushes and a large low hanging plant of sorts, not quite a tree but too tree-like to be a bush. It was a little strange Gabriel had to admit. The tree-like plant sat at the edge of the watering hole, a rather beautiful area. Gabriel came back the next day to see if there had been any progress on the tortoise finding a suitable shelter that it preferred and the anthro vernid was absolutely thrilled as he watched the animal finish his snack and slowly, VERY slowly make his way over to the long hanging tree by the pond. Some people might not find this very entertaining, watching a slow animal walk around? But not Gabriel, Gabriel was ecstatic about it. However the tortoise went a little past the tree and began to drink from the watering hole. He took long slow gulps of water and when Gabriel was almost ready to leave and come back later, the tortoise turned around, wandered over to the tree and settled down in its shade.

The Release
The day had come and Gabriel was actually not looking forward to it at all. For this was the day his very large project was to be released into the wild. After spending so much time making the enclosure perfect and observing the absolutely giant tortoise. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t get at the very least, a little attached to the big guy but alas, this was always what this whole project was leading to. He sighed a bit louder than he intended to as we watched the tortoise wander around, foraging the grass. His ears perked when the people he was waiting for finally arrived. They were here to help transport the big guy because he was obviously much too heavy for just one person to move. So now the light purple zookeeper and the newcomers began working in tandem, entering the enclosure. Firstly they lured the tortoise into a dark metal crate, to reduce any extra stress. The help had also brought a small crane like device, that would limit the amount of heavy lifting needed to move the big guy. Luckily with the crane and others helping him he was able to get the tortoise loaded into a truck that would take the big guy to be released into his natural habitat. Gabriel smiled almost sadly, he was happy to have helped a little in the Anti-E Project but still, he was going to miss the big guy.