Westminster Council Receives PETA Award for Rescuing Lost Tortoise from Rubbish Heap

For Immediate Release:
12 August 2016

Contact:
Olivia Jordan +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

WESTMINSTER COUNCIL RECEIVES PETA AWARD FOR RESCUING LOST TORTOISE FROM RUBBISH HEAP

Council Members, Who Stopped at Nothing to Save a Life, Earn ‘Hero to Animals’ Accolade 

London – For their compassion and dedication in searching for Zuma, a 90-year-old tortoise who was swept up in a garden waste bag and on his way to the incinerator, the members of Westminster City Council have just received PETA’s Hero to Animals Award.

When Zuma’s guardian contacted the council after realising he was missing – and may have crawled into a bin bag bound for the incinerator – its members sprang into action to find the lost tortoise. The needle-in-a-haystack job was made possible by their resourceful use of thermal-imaging software and GPS tracking – as well as their persistence in searching among 1,000 bags of rubbish to locate and return Zuma to his grateful guardian.

“Thanks to Westminster City Council’s heroic efforts, Zuma was spared a terrifying end and reunited with his family”, says PETA Foundation Director Elisa Allen. “Westminster  is fortunate to have public servants who are willing to go the extra mile to protect all residents – whether they have two legs or four. We hope their compassionate action will serve as inspiration to others.”

Westminster City Council have received a framed certificate and box of vegan chocolates from PETA.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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