Off to sanctuary in Georgia
Library tortoise to receive better care, more room to roam in new home
by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor
A popular tortoise in Rogers City is heading to a new home with a lot more shell room.
Traci, who has been at the Presque Isle District Library’s (PIDL) Rogers City branch since February 2019, is being relocated to the wide-open spaces of a reptile sanctuary in Georgia.
“He needs more space,” said Nicole Grulke, PIDL reference/media librarian, whose desk is a lettuce toss from Traci’s enclosure. “They double in size every like three years on average. In another three years, he’s going to be exponentially too large for his cage.”
It’s a place where Traci can get the best care from experts.
Traci came to Rogers City with a mate, Fritz, after PIDL director Amber Alexander’s family purchased the pair from an Alpena pet store and allowed them to grow up in the library on a long-term loan. At 1-year-old, they could fit in the palm of a hand.
At that young age, it was impossible to identify the gender, but Traci was eventually determined to be the male and Fritz the female. He still could grow to 2-feet in length and weigh 200 pounds and live to the country’s 350th birthday.
While Traci enjoys following people walking around his cage, it has been a lonely place since Fritz left for a better place. That won’t be the case in Georgia.
“He’ll be able to burrow underground like he’s supposed to do in nature,” added Grulke. “He’ll have much more natural food and a couple of friends that he can kind of hang out with over there. And then depending on how they want to use him in their programming, he might be going to a zoo.”
“Sanctuaries have people with the expertise to help them when they are sick and that is hard to find in our area,” said Alexander.
On Oct. 7, there was an official sendoff at the library with 50 kids and about 30 to 40 adults stopping in.
“We do have patrons that have helped take care of him over the years,” said Grulke. “They’ve brought in snacks and fresh goods from their gardens and all kinds of fun things for him to play with or snack on.”
“We have enjoyed them immensely and more importantly the public has enjoyed them,” said Alexander. “We have people that come in to just check up on the tortoises.
“We do genuinely hope that Traci has the best retirement of his life, in a larger community where maybe someday he will have kids. We look forward to the new reptile and the joy of discovery for our patrons and community.”
Alexander encouraged everyone to visit a sanctuary to support the animals.
