Today during our
morning walk my dog found in a deep ravine a Balkan turtle. It happens rather
rarely now, as turtles practically disappeared
in the South of Europe. Many years ago their habitat covered France, Spain, Greece, the territory of
the former Yugoslavia. But humans killed these slowly moving animals for meat
and turtle-shells or for keeping in cages. In 1971 only Yugoslavia
exported to Germany and some other European countries about 40 000 turtles.
Now they are partially under legal protection,
however their population is going down. Our dog barked at the turtle however he is a well-bred creature and didn’t even
try to touch her or to turn her upside down.