Aspen's Tortoise-iPad Art Installation Ends Early
ASPEN, Colo. (CBS4) - An art exhibit criticized for cruelty to animals has ended six weeks early because its central feature -- live tortoises with iPads affixed to their shells -- needed to move to drier and warmer climes.
The artist, Cai Guo-Qiang, attached two iPads to each tortoise, who wandered around the Aspen Art Museum as part of a public opening that started Aug. 2.
The iPads featured images of ghost towns from around the valley in Pitkin County. The exhibit was called "Moving Ghost Town."
"We want to again make it very clear that we would never harm or abuse animals or place any living thing in danger or harm's way," the museum's board of trustees said in a statement.
The vet said the animals' welfare received the "highest priority" during the exhibit.
A veterinarian said the weather is getting too wet and cold for the animals. The museum had already planned to move the tortoises -- named Big Bertha, Gracie Pink Star and Whale Wanderer -- to a new home before the exhibit began.
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