When a vacation spot in Madagascar suddenly became overcome by a great cloud of smell, the local residents were beside themselves. Nobody had any idea where this great stink was coming from.
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The suffocating aroma filled the area and no one could understand where the smell was coming from. After many angry calls from locals, the police were called and they finally found out the cause of it all and it is definitely not what you think.
Idyllic City
The city of Toliara, a place on the southwest coast of Madagascar was known to be an incredibly beautiful and peaceful spot in the country. So, when police officers kept getting calls upon calls about a very strange problem inside an ordinary neighbourhood, they immediately began an investigation.
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The investigators had received several calls from residents complaining about a pungent smell that spread all across the area. It was so bad that many people were discussing moving away while others were sick to their stomach having to deal with the odour.
Smelly Abandoned Homes
While some blamed the city’s lack of sanitation work for the smell, many pointed fingers at two abandoned homes in the area. The vacant and derelict family homes were already a sore thorn in the neighbourhood and now many believed it to also be the cause of the stench spread across town.
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The smell was so strong that it felt like it was suffocating the entire area and with each day it became worst and more and more calls poured in from residents, begging the officials to do something or else they would take the matter into their own hands.
Silly Issue
To some of our readers, this might seem like a very odd reason to have such an extreme response. We also wondered how bad could this smell really be that the residents were calling the police over and over again?
Some people were so angry that they threatened to enter the abandoned homes illegally and track down whatever or whoever was causing the smell and while Police officials wouldn’t have normally intervened in such a matter, they felt compelled to do so.
Investigating The House
After receiving so many calls, the police wanted to do a thorough check of the abandoned properties. This meant that apart from the usual officers they also asked Soary Randrianjafizanaka to join them in the search. Soary was one of the members of the wildlife committee. Apart from her, they also had a medical examiner with them.
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And as soon as the team arrived in the neighbourhood they finally understood what all the fuss was about. The whole street smelled rancid and got worst and worst as they started walking towards the abandoned homes.
Wildlife Committee
This wasn’t Randrianjafizanaka’s first experience working with police officers, in fact, she had been on many search missions with them where foul play towards animals was expected but little did she know that this day was going to be very different from the rest.
Randrianjafizanaka was actually the head of the agency and her own home was not far away from the area she had heard all the gossip revolving around the town and its supposed stink which could make grown men cry.
The House Appeared To Be Ordinary
Other than the atrocious stench that was coming from the inside, the house looked to be relatively normal on the outside. It was large and rather commanding. But of course, it was clear that the home was emanating a horrid smell.
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Randrianjafizanaka was very experienced with dealing with wildlife and knew from the first second that this was animal-related. No human being could create such a stink and it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be anything good.
Inside The Home
As they opened the heavy and rotten door of the building, the odour intensified. Some officers even gagged at the smell and were forced to leave the area! But Randrianjafizanaka was only getting more and more curious.
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The house itself was in complete shambles. The walls were crumbling, old rotten furniture was scrambled everywhere. There was no electricity, naked wires were strewn across all the rooms. The place was damp and disgusting.
Forgotten Home
While it was dirty, nothing there explained the strange smell. It was obvious that this place was harbouring a dark secret and the team was determined to uncover it. The strangest thing was that the home wasn’t even for sale.
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The owners had just up and moved and completely forgotten about the space. If they had sold it, they could have clearly made a good chunk of change but instead, it was sitting hear rotting away. But why?
Was It Humans Or Animals?
As we mentioned above Randrianjafizanaka’s institute had told her that this was animal-related and now she was almost positive. Only animals trapped inside somewhere could create such a stench.
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Also by the looks of the interior of the house, nobody could live there even homeless people couldn’t stand this smell for more than a few hours. And just as they were slowly making their way through the home, they heard a loud bang.
They Heard A Noise
Everyone stopped in their tracks! Randrianjafizanaka was one of the first to slowly start moving towards the sound, she knew that whoever or whatever was making this stench had to be related to the bang.
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It was obvious now that they weren’t alone but who was with them? A wild and dangerous animal? A homeless person in need of help? Or something different entirely. Whatever it was the team was getting closer to finding out more.
Just People
As Soary opened the door, she came face-to-face with two men! This was not what she was expecting! The experienced wildlife expert was sure that animals were involved but here we’re just two very shocked guys standing in front of her.
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Both of them had shovels in their hands and it looked like they were digging holes around them. Police screamed at them to put their hands up but the men had already dropped their shovels and did as they were told.
Confusion
The team didn’t know what to make of any of this. Everything that they were expecting to find had just gone out of the window. The house was not abandoned or full of animals, instead, they would some random guys digging holes.
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Officers immediately took both the men outside and started questioning them. They were trying to stay friendly hoping that they would reveal something about what was happening but before they could even ask them, officers noticed how the guys just “looked guilty”.
Dumbfounded
It was clear that they were trying to hide something and the cops were sure that these two had something to do with the smell. When they asked them about it, both the guys acted like they couldn’t even smell anything and started mumbling things.
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The protocol for these situations was to arrest the individuals and question them properly at the station but the officers said the men could avoid all that if they just told them what was happening but both of them looked dumbfounded as to what everyone was talking about.
Attempt # 2
Unable to get any clear answers from the men, the police and Soary decided to enter the home again. This time they went straight to the room they found them digging in. And that is when they noticed something.
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The floor was shaking! In between the holes that had been dug in the floor, the ground was slowly moving, crawling and when the team flashed their lights to find out what was happening, they wanted to scream.
They Were Everywhere
Soary Randrianjafizanaka looked down through the cobwebs and in the dim and erratic light and realized that the entire floor was covered in tortoises! There had to be thousands of them packed in like sardines!
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It wasn’t the floor that was moving, it was their poor creatures stumbling in the dark with no food or air to breath in. And seeing them instantly put all the puzzle pieces together. It was these tortoises and their waste that was making the great stink.
A Rare Species
She gently picked up of of the tortoises and noticed that it had unique markings on its shell. And her heart instantly sank! She had seen this before, these rare tortoises were not found in Madagascar and were definitely being poached.
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The species is known for its docile nature and some people even owned them as pets, despite it being illegal. On a darker note, others ate them as a delicacy. And sadly, due to poaching the species is almost extinct.
Calling In Her Team
With the source of the smell finally uncovered, it was time to take immediate action and get these poor tortoises’ help. Floodlights were brought in, so Randrianjafizanaka and her team could finally be able to see the extent of the situation.
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And it was bad. An initial count revealed that the room had 9000 tortoises inside it. With nearly half of them on the brink of death. They suffered from dehydration, malnutrition and had not been taken care of for a very long time.
Truly Endangered
Randrianjafizanaka had worked with animals for decades now and sadly had seen them abused more often than nought but this was on another level. She had never seen so many of these rare tortoise species and that too in such a small space.
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To put into perspective, just how rare these animals were it is estimated that there are only 3 million of them left on earth. In the 1990s, their population was around 12 million, which dropped down due to poaching.
Finding Them New Homes
Sadly, 1000 of the tortoises died in the next week despite Randrianjafizanaka and her team providing them with around the clock care. Thankfully though, the majority of them had recovered and were ready to be rehabilitated.
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The team wasn’t sure if they were ready to be released back into the wild, but they were also sure that no one facility could look after all 8,000 of them. So, they split the tortoises up into groups and sent them around the country to be taken in and cared for.
The End Of The Smell
And with the tortoises finally, in happy and healthy environments the abandoned homes which they had lived in was finally cleaned and demolished. This meant that the neighbourhood went back to enjoying their quiet and fresh air!
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But to think that if the people hadn’t frantically been calling the police for help over the great smell, these poor turtles would not have survived and the men responsible for their mistreatment would never have been caught. So, all in all, the smell actually helped.