Hoggles home at last

TENDER LOVING CARE: Hoggles get some special treatment at Levin and Horowhenua Vets.

A red eared terrapin turtle called Hoggles has had a month long adventure which has ended happily.

Hoggles was living a very enjoyable life in a Pukerua Bay backyard where she had access to a filtered pond that was set to 23 degrees, had company with eight other terrapins, and was very well fed by owner Wayne Newby who gave her lots of goodies such as shrimp and slices of steak.

But one day a crack emerged in a bamboo fence at the back of the turtle enclosure and Hoggles got curious.

She crept through the bamboo and slid on her side for about 1.5m before going through another break in the bamboo fence.

Hoggles went down into a gully, through a culvert and then down to the sea - overall distance about 1km.

Mr Newby was concerned.

"I did hunt the creek several times but I went upstream and never went downstream.

"And I just thought that because she's the biggest of the turtles I've got that someone might have pinched her for breeding.

"So I didn't do anymore about it."

About four weeks later a woman was walking along the beach when she saw Hoggles in the sea looking a bit worse for wear.

She took Hoggles to the Nga Manu Nature Reserve in Waikanae who in turned transferred the turtle to the care of Helping You Help Animals (Huha).

"She was nearly close to death," Huha founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie said.

"On seeing the state this poor girl arrived in, it was straight to our friends at Levin and Horowhenua Vets for an anesthetic and a thorough clean up, debriding the dead tissue and debris from her severely damaged shell."

Huha posted a photograph of Hoggles on their Facebook page, and a bit about how she had come into their care, and someone posted it on the Pukerua Bay Trading Facebook page.

"My daughter rang and said 'dad I think that's Hoggles'," a delighted Mr Newby said.

"Hoggles is quite distinctive as she's got a dent in the front of her shell.

"When I saw a photograph I knew it was her."

Hoggles, who is about 15 years old, and who isn't far away from giving birth, is back home after her big adventure.

Mr Newby has put her in a box with two other females who have gone into hibernation.