To mark the passing of a sub-species before our very eyes, I'm publishing a picture of my own, very much alive tortoise, Spike. Here he is enjoying a supper of plantains, clover, buttercups, hawkbit and dandilions in this evening's sunshine. Spike has been our attack tortoise for the last 30 years, he has guarded all of the gardens we have had in that time. If there was a dangerous tortoise act, Spike would be at the top of the Council's most wanted list. If the temperature is high enough and he's feeling peckish, he can sprint across the lawn in a surprising amount of time and you'd best be wearing trainers or sturdy shoes - any burglars or up-to-no-goods anywhere near our house wearing sandals or flip flops will be punished with bitten toes! (A tortoise bite makes a nasty blood blister - they don't have teeth, just very very hard gums!)
But seriously, I do hope the world wakes up to how many species are being lost and how many more may be lost if we don't do something to curb the excesses of our appetite for cheap food and fuel. Foremost in my mind is the fact that we may lose orang-utans to palm oil within my lifetime. :-(
RIP George, I think the world is a much poorer planet with you no longer on it.
