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Disabled Turtle Finds Romance After Being Fitted With Custom Skateboard

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August 18, 2008 09:10 PM EST | AP

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Read More: Animals, Skateboarding, Turtle, Home News
Arava, a disabled tortoise, right, crawls inside an enclosure with a custom skateboard attached to her shell that helps her move around, at the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2008. Arava the disabled turtle is using her new set of wheels to get around in more ways than one. Officials at the zoo say the ten-year-old spurred tortoise has begun mating since being fitted with a custom skateboard to overcome paralysis of her hind legs. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

JERUSALEM — Arava the disabled turtle is using her new set of wheels to get around in more ways than one. Officials at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo say the 10-year-old spurred tortoise has begun mating since being fitted with a custom skateboard to overcome paralysis of her hind legs.

The 55-pound turtle is unable to move herself forward with her front legs alone. So the zoo's staff built her a metal board with two wheels that can be strapped to her stomach.

Arava arrived in Jerusalem a few months ago from a petting zoo in southern Israel with the unexplained handicap, and found no reptile romance. Zoo curator Shmulik Yedvad says it's not that Arava has come out of her shell with her unique new wheelchair, but that a particularly amorous 10-year-old male has been after her.

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On the Net: http://www.jerusalemzoo.org.il/len/

JERUSALEM — Arava the disabled turtle is using her new set of wheels to get around in more ways than one. Officials at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo say the 10-year-old spurred tortoise has begun m...
JERUSALEM — Arava the disabled turtle is using her new set of wheels to get around in more ways than one. Officials at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo say the 10-year-old spurred tortoise has begun m...
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Good for her and fantastic job for the people who cared enough to help her!!! Baby
shower coming up!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:47 PM on 08/20/2008
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