Tortoises saved from from the ravages of drought in the lower Murray have been given a new home.
Primary students from Milang have released 24 long-necked tortoises into wetlands near Mount Barker in the Adelaide hills.
The tortoises were saved from potentially-fatal tube worm infestations in the lower lakes of the Murray in South Australia.
High salinity in the lakes because of prolonged drought caused the calcified crust of tube worms on the tortoises.
James Stroud nicknamed the one he cared for Lucky.
"He was trapped to the jetty I think it was with like all tube worm on him attached so he couldn't get off, so that's why he's called Lucky, because he was lucky," he said.
The students scraped the tube worms off the tortoises, but Kerri Bartley from the Department for Environment and Heritage says the creatures cannot be put back into the lower lakes.
"There's been more water put into the Goolwa Channel but there's still, the salinity is still high enough to support tube worm activity," she said.
The students have saved about 2,000 tortoises.