RSPCA Friends of West Hatch Newsletter | Issue 16 RSPCA-Newsletter-SummerAutumn-2019-online | Page 12

Two Intrepid
terrapins found!
Here at West Hatch we often have stray
terrapins come in to the Centre when a
concerned member of the public finds
them wandering down the street or
sometimes in unusual places.
One such story - a male terrapin was found
in a lake in Vivary Park in Taunton. The
terrapin was caught and brought to the
Centre by one of the RSPCA Inspectors and
staff set about settling him in and named
him Andrew.
After a few days a gentleman came forward
to say that his two terrapins had gone
missing from their living quarters. He didn’t
know how they had escaped but had since
found out they had somehow managed to
make their way into the lake in Vivary Park.
He came to collect his terrapin, Mr Darcy. He
asked us to let him know if we had any other
terrapins come our way, as unfortunately his
female terrapin was still at large!
Not long after being reunited with Mr
Darcy his female terrapin was located
and caught so the separated couple were
happily reunited. We have yet to hear of
any more trips to Vivary Park by these two
adventurous terrapins.
Kira: a star in
the making
Kira the Springer Spaniel arrived at West
Hatch in February 2019, overweight and with
overgrown nails. She was only 16 months old.
It wasn’t long however before Supervisor Sue
Dicks spotted Kira’s obsession with tennis
balls and her talent for sniffing them out! A
month later, Kira went into foster with PC Lee
Webb of Somerset and Avon Police. We are
so pleased to hear that Kira is doing brilliantly
in her training and is well on her way to
becoming a top notch sniffer dog!
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