Illegally removing tortoises from the wild - the dark side of wildlife crimes in South Africa A silent crime in the veld - Every year across South Africa, countless tortoises disappear from their natural habitats. What seems harmless "rescuing" or "keeping one as a pet" is actually a serious wildlife crime. Many of these tortoises are taken illegally from the wild to be sold in the pet trade, smuggled across borders, or kept in captivity where they often die from stress, malnutrition, or disease. South Africa is home to more tortoise species than almost any other country, from the Leopard Tortoise and Angulate Tortoise to the Speckled Padloper, the world's smallest tortoise. These slow moving reptiles play a vital role in ecosystems by dispersing seeds and maintaining vegetation balance. Removing them from the wild disrupts these systems and threatens their long-term survival. The dark trade behind "cute pets" - Behind every illegally caught tortoise is a criminal supply chain. Poachers collect them from the veld, often in large numbers, and sell them to middlemen who move them to local pet markets or across borders.