Madrid’s main rail station, home of a lush tropical garden with palms and parakeets, is losing one of its main attractions: the turtle ponds at the base of the trees.
The turtles, whose numbers grew from a few to over 400—both by breeding and by unauthorized dumping of pets—have become so crowded that they have turned to cannibalism. Others have become sick from rotten remains of food thrown by visitors. Station staff complained about having to remove dead or mutilated turtles, while animal rights groups demanded action.
Now the turtles—most of whom are ‘red-eared sliders,’ an aggressive non-native species—are being removed to a wildlife park in Navas del Rey, where they will have a larger habitat with more variety of depths and terrain.
The ponds in Atocha will be concreted over. No explanation given as to why they couldn’t remain as ponds without the turtles. Perhaps officials are afraid of a new invasion.
