A THIRD giant tortoise sculpture has had to be removed from Durrell’s trail.
Porcelain Tortoise, which was located at the Cenotaph, was taken off the Tortoise Takeover trail for ‘a spruce up’, Durrell wrote in a social media post.
Porcelain’s temporary retirement from the trail comes after the last damaged tortoise, Puffling, was returned to a new location. Originally located at Sorel, the tortoise is now at Trinity’s Millennium Cross car park, near the Horse Box Café. She had been absent from the trail for three weeks.
Tortoise Gaia was taken off the trail on Monday 17 July, on the same day as Puffling, and returned to her plinth four days later.
Earlier this summer, another sculpture, named Janvrin’s Tortoise, sustained some damage. Local artist Jamie O’Neill posted on social media after the tiny message in a bottle was stolen from her tortoise.
Artist Abi Overland, who created Stay Gold based at Colomberie, also posted in July about damage to her tortoise, writing: ‘Could I pretty please ask that you don’t climb on the tortoises. There’s some damage that I need to fix and she’s a delicate lady that needs to be treated nicely.’
Porcelain Tortoise, created by artist Zoe Connery, evokes traditional porcelain designs with an added modern twist in the form of 3D paint elements. The tortoise is sponsored by construction company Rok.
The JEP has asked Jersey Zoo when Porcelain Tortoise is expected to be back on the trail.
l‘Tortoise mania’ has come to Jersey. See story on page 4.
