Gentle Tortoise Clad in Colorful Dresses Provides Comfort to Others as a Certified Therapy Animal
photo via Therapy Pets Unlimited
A sweet and gentle African spurred tortoise named Wasabi provides comfort to people who are ill or alone through such Maryland-based organizations as Pets Therapy Unlimited and Pets On Wheels, all while wearing colorful dresses. Wasabi’s human Lisa Chicarella spoke with the Huffington Post about how Wasabi got into this line of work and why she started wearing dresses.
I mentioned it’s a shame that my tortoise can’t be a therapy pet, she’d be good at it. …She’s not a goldfish in a shell. She is an intelligent animal. She can learn. She has and shows emotions. …People underestimate the intelligence of tortoises. I am not saying she’s going to be doing long division anytime soon but she knows her name and usually comes when she’s called. …You can imagine the remarks we got. A giant turtle in a diaper. So, my friend made her a dress to cover the diaper,Sad truth is, she has more dresses than I do. And hers are custom made
photo via Pets On Wheels
photo via Lisa Chicarella
photo via Lisa Chicarella
photo via Pets On Wheels