Passage: Remembering Speed the Tortoise
It happened this past week -- word of the demise of Speed the Tortoise.
A star of the San Diego Zoo since the 193os, Speed hailed from the Galapagos Islands and was believed to be more than 150 years old, making him a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria.
In a long-ago abandoned tradition, children were actually allowed to ride on the backs of all the zoo's Galapagos tortoises.
Sadly, as with humans, time and tide wait for no tortoise.
We're told arthritis and other ailments had been tormenting Speed for some time now, leading zookeepers to try everything from physical therapy to acupuncture.
Yes, acupuncture.
Finally came the decision this past Friday to euthanize Speed -- his life's journey over.
We pause so all of us might heed,
The long life of the tortoise Speed.
A hundred fifty we're told,
He made the most of growing old.