The Owl Rescue Centre’s working dog heroes saved a small tortoise from being the victim of a big crime.
North West, South Africa (03 September 2025) – Flash and Chikita are back on duty after soaking up some time at the beach last month. For these hard-working doggies, there’s always an animal that needs their help.
This time, the wildlife they were tasked with sniffing out was a little slower than usual and a lot harder to spot.
The story starts when the Owl Rescue Centre answered a call from concerned security staff based at a mine between Brits and Rustenburg in the North West. They had run into a hawker trying to sell a tortoise. They did the right thing and called it in.
By the time the rescue team had arrived, the hawker had vanished. And no tortoise in sight. Thinking fast, they made a U-turn to try and catch him along the road.
They found the hawker again, but there was no tortoise to be seen. With wildlife rescue signs plastered all over the car, it’s likely he realised help was coming and either let the tortoise go, or stashed it somewhere nearby.
Cue Flash and Chikita. A famous working dogs duo fit for the case. Tracking a tortoise without a scent is business as usual for these two.
“For tortoises, it’s a verbal command. You’ll hear when we post the rescue video, I say ‘find the tortoise’ about 300 times. We’ve tracked many tortoises before, so Flash picks them up pretty quickly,” writes Brendan, a hero from the Owl Rescue Centre.
It took them just under half an hour to scour the large area and find the tortoise, wedged between two rocks and flipped onto its back. Tortoises can’t always right themselves without help, especially on uneven ground. They flipped him over and brought him to safety.
According to the Owl Rescue Centre, the little one seems okay. For now, they’ll keep him safe for a few days of observation, and once they’re sure he’s in the clear, he’ll be released into a reserve where he belongs.
It’s the latest in a long list of rescues for Flash, a seasoned tracker with seven years under his collar and his newer sidekick Chikita, who joined the team in 2024.
There’s not much these doggies haven’t seen. Their hero status is earned. They’ve travelled all across SA helping bring vulnerable wildlife to safety. Thanks to them, a little tortoise has a better shot at survival.
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