With morbid news that’s the favourite of the media, it’s nice to read about Diego the tortoise who was perhaps the proverbial Abraham to his species, since he fathered 40 per cent of them and prevented them from going extinct.

However unlike with Diego, Abraham’s species weren’t anywhere near close to extinction — which of course I wish they were. Then Diego wouldn’t have had to forcefully copulate and he would certainly not have had to do it in captivity. If there were tortoise rights, this would be a blatant violation.

We applaud the poor tortoise, not knowing what he must be going through. Imagine spending a major part of your life being forced to have copulate ‘in captivity’ just because it’s the price you have to pay for the crime of human beings. Perhaps we should cry for Diego for he took our cross on his shoulders and gave his life for the cause.

Abilasha D — By email