Michelangelo, a seventy-year-old African sulcata tortoise, was discovered bleeding after being stabbed with six-inch splinters from a wooden garden gate post. The animal had a rake handle wedged between its head and leg and shattered glass placed on its back.
A guy escaped jail time after attacking a tortoise at a California nursery while intoxicated.
Michelangelo, a seventy-year-old African sulcata tortoise, was discovered bleeding after being stabbed with six-inch splinters from a wooden garden gate post.
The animal had a rake handle wedged between its head and leg and shattered glass placed on its back.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, George Robles, 42, was sentenced on Friday after pleading no contest to counts of animal maltreatment, commercial burglary, and damage.
He was reportedly linked to prior break-ins at the East San Jose daycare and stole items worth thousands of dollars in the days preceding and following the attack in January of last year.
Robles was sentenced to two years of probation and required treatment for mental health and substance misuse. Additionally, he was prohibited from owning any animals for ten years.
Instead of animal cruelty, the defendant’s behavior toward the tortoise was the product of severe intoxication, according to the defense attorney.
Following the incident, the tortoise required surgery, and the veterinarian who conducted the procedure stated it was “doing fine.”
