A new museum in Aspen, Colorado is taking flak for an exhibition which involves mounting iPads on the back of tortoises.

'Moving Ghost Town,' by Chinese-born artist Cai Guo-Qiang, is one of the opening exhibits at the museum, which opens on Saturday. The iPads will be playing footage of ghost towns while the animals roam around their enclosure on the roof of the building.

According to Aspen Daily News Online, Lisabeth Oden, a local women, created an online petition to protest the exhibition. "These creatures were not designed to carry 2-pound iPads," she said. 

Stephanie Bell, of animal rights organisation Peta, also condemned it: "The only message that this artist in conveying from our interpretation is that nature is here for our manipulation, and of course we disagree with that."

Sara Fitzmaurice, a spokesperson for the museum, defended the treatment of the animals: "The three are being closely monitored, cared for, checked by a local veterinarian at regular intervals, and are being exhibited in consultation with the Turtle Conservancy."