TEENAGE Mutant Ninja Turtle fans across East Lancashire are being warned not to rush out and buy their very own hero in a half shell.

With the Hollywood blockbuster set to hit cinema screens this Friday, the Canal and River Trust has urged caution before turtles are snapped up as pets.

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The previous TMNT craze in the 1980s and 1990s led to thousands of match-box sized baby terrapins being bought as pets.

But when the North American native, which grows to the size of a dinner plate, got too big for domestic tanks, they were often released by owners into the wild where they have been causing damage to native wildlife ever since.

Mark Robinson, national ecologist for the trust, said: “Like any baby animal, young matchbox-sized terrapins are pretty cute but people need to understand what they’re taking on when they buy them as pets.

“They can be pretty big, pretty grumpy and pretty smelly which means that sadly some people just fall out of love with them.

“Terrapins can live for up to 40 years and we’re still dealing with the effects of the last turtle power craze with hungry terrapins munching their way through our native wildlife including dragonfly and damselfly larvae, small fish, frogspawn and even ducklings”.

The trust has said that prospective buyers should do their research, understand what they would be taking on and seek help if they struggle to cope.

A spokeswoman for Blackpool Zoo said: “Some turtles would be perfectly fine being released and some would not, it all depends on where they are put. However, the problem is that it’s cruel to them.

“They should never just be dumped and if anybody is struggling to take care of their turtle they should contact an animal rescue organisation.”

Oliver Haworth, pet and reptile technician at Blackburn-based Aquamania, said: “We work hard to promote responsible ownership and anyone who is thinking of buying a reptile should do their research and make sure that their environment is correctly set up.”

 

Turtles facts

  • The largest living turtle is the leatherback sea turtle which reaches a shell length of 6.6ft and can reach a weight of more than 900kg.
  • Turtles have rigid beaks, and use their jaws to cut and chew food. Instead of having teeth, the upper and lower jaws of the turtle are covered by horny ridges.
  • One of the most colorful is the eastern painted turtle, which includes a yellow plastron and a black or olive shell with red markings around the rim.
  • The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984.
  • Upon TMNT's first arrival in the United Kingdom the name was changed to ‘Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles’, or TMHT, for short, since local censorship policies deemed the word ninja to have excessively violent connotations for a children's program.
  • The Turtles have appeared in five feature films to date. The first three were live-action features produced in the early 1990s. The fourth film is a CGI-animated film released in 2007. The fifth will be released on Friday.