619-659-8078

Meet Our Tortoise, Donashello

It's official! We have our first ever shelled rescue. Weighing in at 100 pounds, this 15 year old sulcata tortoise is now calling Lions Tigers & Bears their forever home.

His previous owners were elderly and could no longer care for him, so they reached out to us for help and we have opened our sanctuary to provide him with lifetime care.  We are working on a space for him to enjoy which will include loads of enrichment features, burrows and species-specific landscaping. 

In September 2021, we put out a call for our members and supporters to donate and submit their favorite name. Then we randomly drew ten names from the pool of submissions. Between September 27th and October 3rd we held our very first "SHELLECTION" - so everyone could vote on their favorite name. Well the results are in, and the winning name is... Donashello! It's not too late to show welcome our new tortoise to the sanctuary. You can still make a donation to help make sure Donashello has everything he needs to settle into sanctuary life and provide for his lifetime care (Sulcata tortoises live a REALLY long time!). Thank you for your support!

CLICK HERE to make a donation to help us complete his habitat!

Here are some interesting facts about the Sulcata tortoise:

• They are the third-largest species of tortoise in the world - only the Galapagos tortoise and Aldabra giant tortoise are bigger
• They are herbivores, and enjoy a variety of leafy greens
• They are a burrowing species, and are excellent diggers!
• They can live to be 80+ years old in captivity