Hurt Turtle

Question
I live in an apartment complex where my lanlord keeps her two large endangered tortoises. I am sorry I don't know their exact species. Last night my dog got out the house and from what I hear from her, he basically attacked them. He was scratching and pawing on them pretty aggressively. I saw the one this morning as she was taking him to an expert and the harder belly close to his head was pretty mangled and bleeding. I apologize i don't know much about these animals myself. I feel absolutely terrible it happened and if they can save it I was wondering what kind of damage i am looking at. I want to offer to pay for it all. I hope they can save him. please any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

thank you for your time

Answer
Hi Nicole,

If they're large tortoises, the most likely species is sulcata, which are endangered in the wild but are actually overpopulated as pets in the U.S.  They're very common in rescues because they're prolific breeders and there aren't that many good homes for them.  The other two large species are aldabra and galapagos, both of which would only be available in the U.S. captive bred (galapagos only by permit).  I can't imagine keeping either an aldabra or a galpagos in an apartment, though, so most likely they're sulcata.  

Scratching and pawing at a large tortoise probably wouldn't cause a lot of damage, so if there was extensive injury it was probably from bites.  Dog bite injuries have a high rate of infection, so the wounds would need extensive cleaning and then the tortoise would be kept on a course of antibiotics.  Depending on the extent of the injuries and how deep they went (if there were any injuries to the body cavity, fractures to the shell, etc.) treatment could include surgery as well.  Unfortunately I can't give you an idea of how much this could cost because I don't know the extent of the injuries, but I would expect at least two to three hundred dollars for basic treatment and antibiotics.  I hope the tortoise wasn't actually too severely injured.  Good luck, and let me know how it does.