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Janet Baker
Dr. Dev Bose
English 101
Essay 2 Revision
December 11, 2015
Profile of Tucson Reptile Rescue

I decided to profile Tucson Reptile Rescue based on an incident that happened to me this
past summer. This organization is unique because one of their primary goals is to educate the
community, while at the same time serving as the only local non-profit animal shelter devoted to
exotic reptiles. Im not reptile pet owner nor have I ever wanted to be. Sometimes, though, life
takes you down a road that leads from the ordinary to a completely different corner of the
universe. Through my own small experience with TRR, I was educated about the fact that
there is a rather large problem of ignorance involving reptile pet ownership and of the exotic pet
trade in general.

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My backstory with this rescue organization involves me being somewhat duped into
pet sitting a friends turtle. Have you ever agreed to do someone a favor and then wound up
kicking yourself months later? Was the request delivered with a casual, lilting voice that
charmed you into thinking this would be no big deal? How I came to be acquainted with Tucson
Reptile Rescue means admitting that I am a trusting, gullible fool who took on such a favor,
which turned out to be a task of gargantuan proportions. Suffice it to say, not everyone is
capable or knowledgeable enough to care for an aquatic turtle.
Ignorance, as mentioned earlier, includes owners who dump unwanted pets, which is
what my friend wanted to do. I intervened, agreed to care for the turtle, but later required Tucson
Reptile Rescue to bail me out. Rather than allowing my person to simply release her aquatic
turtle into some golf course pond or the Reid Park lake, I agreed to watch over Gina, a two
year old Red- eared slider, while my friend went off on a temporary adventure.which really
meant that she had no intention of ever coming back to town. So there I was, this past April,
stuck with a turtle at a house where nobody lived. This was our rental property, yet this woman
had gone to great lengths to set up an above ground pond with two turtles. The male had run off
months before, leaving the female all alone with just some goldfish for company. It was hinted
by Friend, via text messages from afar, that perhaps I would like to move the whole pond to my
house and keep the turtle forever. Already I could see that the little favor had morphed into
Janets Hobby against Janets will.
As I assessed the task at hand I kept referring to Friends written instructions, which were
also delivered with a nonchalant attitude and that turned out to be about 180 degrees off the mark
on true turtle care. Oh, just come over once in a while and toss in some dried shrimp...just dump
about 20 goldfish into the pond about once a month or sothrow in some greensclean the

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pond filter about once a monthhow carefree this will be. I can tell you right now, after looking
up a number of web sites on how to do my new job, that she had no idea she was doing
everything wrong.
The pond, I first observed, resembled mucky pea soup, so neither the turtle nor the fish
could be spotted easily. This required a full cleaning of the enclosure and filthy filter, plus an
algae killing liquid to be used three times a week until the algae was controlled. You see, aquatic
creatures of all kinds prefer reasonably clean water. And by clean I mean that regular
skimming of the surface to remove litter is required, as is a weekly partial pond draining and
filter cleaning! Not once a month! The lettuce, mustard greens, broccoli, blueberries, carrot
scrapings that I bought? All ignored and ended up in the skimmer net. Why? Because young
aquatic turtles prefer meat. (Redearslider.com) Once the pond was clean, Gina could actually see
the goldfish that she could hunt down and kill, leaving her veggies bobbing around the waters
surface uneaten.
Did she like her dried shrimp? Oh yes, very much soevery daynot just when I
happened to pop by to collect the mail two or three times a week (as I was led to believe by
Friend, who was not my favorite person at this point). Ginas shell had mysterious white spots,
so I looked that up and learned she needed to air out her shell. I also learned, thanks to a savvy
PetSmart clerk, that supplemental, nutritious pellets should have been incorporated into her diet.
Very important as well is that you need to feed the goldfish so that they can survive to be
gobbled up later.
Gina escaped once by doing a Kamikaze- style leap over the already fortified ponds
edge and reappeared 4 days later. I hunted around the Internet trying to find out why she left.
Apparently turtles have to find dirt to lay their eggs even if theres no male around. Who

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knew??? I was later informed by, of all people, the neighborhood postal lady, that aquatic turtles
are nomadic and move from pond to pond in their natural environmenthardly the scenario in a
midtown Tucson neighborhood. They seem to want to find a mate every spring so they bail in
hopes of hooking up. After that incident I plugged up every possible escape route in the yard.
About mid-July it became clear that this whole process could not go on. I had been going
to the house every single hot, sweltering day for three months to deal with this animal to which
Id actually become attached. She now recognized my voice and would swim towards me to
receive her snacks. By this time she was taking down even more goldfish than ever. I was
becoming a regular guest at PetSmart which is something I never wanted to be! The idea of
moving the pond (or digging a new one) to my house was nixed. Raccoons, suspected predators,
come into my yard on a regular basis. Along with everything else, I was ready to go back to
school and would barely have time to deal with my job, house, family and four cats. The final
clincher? These turtles can live to be 50 years old. No, I could not make that commitment. The
turtle would outlive me at this point. What to do?? Some people were still suggesting I dump
her in a local pond, but one lady gave me the phone number for Tucson Reptile Rescue.
(Photo of adult Red-eared slider and baby)

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Prior to contacting TRR, I looked at their web site again and read that their aquatic turtle
ponds were filled to capacity and they could not accept any more. Oh great! However, when I
checked out their Facebook page I saw they had posted plans to move about 40 turtles to a large,
private pond in Mississippi. A fund raiser was occurring to sponsor each turtle for $25 each to
make the trip; they were a little more than halfway to the goal. I called Tucson Reptile Rescue
and spoke to the founder/director Charlotte Gillis. Please take my turtle on the trip to
Mississippi and I will fund the rest of them. How could she turn that down? She readily gave
me directions. I sadly placed Gina into a shoebox and found my way to a humble looking
establishment in downtown Tucson.
Although the shelter is closed on Mondays, Charlotte was there to unlock the door and
tour me around the place. She appeared to be in her early forties with long brown hair, some
tattoos and bare feet. At first we sat in the front room while she used her thumbnail to pick off
pieces of Ginas shell (they shed). Charlotte took a picture of me holding Gina and then released
her into a pond teeming with other turtlesher future travel companions. There were two rather
large lizards hanging out in there who slowly began to move towards me. Charlotte smiled as I
subtly backed out of the door. Afterwards we went from room to room where there were
aquariums and cages of every size holding reptiles of every type you can imagine: huge snakes,
huge iguanas and monitors, smaller lizards, aquatic turtles and land tortoises. All were either
being rehabilitated or were already good to go to adoptive homes.
As we sat in Charlottes office while she processed my donation, she told me not to feel
badly about Gina. Many people give up these turtles because they are a lot of work and it is a
commitment. Most that are just dumped end up dying, either because theres no real food

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source in the water here or else they are killed by coyotes or dogs while trying to find another
pond, she said. During our conversation Charlotte told me that she started this rescue mission in
March 2013 with $10,000 of her own money because there are no real places to house unwanted
reptiles. According to their literature, TRR is the only 501c3 non-profit animal shelter for pet
reptiles in Southern Arizona. She has worked in the pet industry for over 20 years and wanted to
form a non-profit shelter for these misunderstood animals.

Neither the Humane Society nor

Pima Animal Control (PACC) will take them in.

Tucson Reptile Rescue, according to Charlotte, is up against over 20 pet shops in town
with many selling aquatic turtles and other reptiles without warning patrons about what they are
buying. Its one thing to purchase a cute little turtle and keep it in a small aquarium at home. Its
quite another matter, she explained, to eventually produce a pond that requires a minimum of 10
gallons of water per inch of shell. Aquatic turtles need a place to get out of the water so they can
dry out and bask in the sunlight. If indoors, they need a heat lamp. And they will need to be
brought indoors during our cold Tucson winters. These are all the natural perks of a turtles
survival in their native southern United States and tropical locales elsewhere in the world; here in
the desert Southwest lots of accommodations must be considered before deciding to keep turtles
as pets. And dont forget: the pet owner will be doing all of this for the next 50 years as the turtle
grows to a diameter of 12 inches or more.
On the back of Tucson Reptile Rescues informational pamphlet regarding the popular
Red-Eared slider is printed their mission statement:
The rescue, rehabilitation and adoption of reptiles in the greater Tucson area; the
education of the public in the care, keeping and maintenance of reptiles.

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The brochure further explains the turtles plight:
Most of these animals end up unwanted and dumped pets when they are no longer tiny
and cute. Water turtles have very specific care requirements; they are living animals that can
suffer greatly when neglected or abused by being kept improperly. This warning could also
apply to other reptiles rescued by TRR. At any one time there are at least 100 reptiles housed
inside their facility. Also, in many cases, an animal has to undergo medical treatment and
rehabilitation if it is to be saved and adopted out.
I actually picked up the aforementioned brochure at the Tucson Reptile and Amphibian
Show. This is a very large, bold exposition held annually in town. I had no idea that there was
such a display until my friend asked me to accompany a week before writing this paper. The
show, attended by exotic pet trade vendors from all over, is held in a big sprawling building
down on Irvington Rd. here in Tucson. Table after table after table was loaded with round plastic
containers that held small, colorful snakes, geckos, frogs and others. Cages and aquariums, large
and small, were occupied by large snakes, iguanas, monitors, chameleons and big, hairy spiders
all for sale at fairly high prices. There were t-shirts, jewelry items, candles, art work and reptile
care products erupting from every corner. Right in the middle of this huge array was the Tucson
Reptile Rescue booth, manned by volunteers, featuring various reptiles up for adoption. During
an Arizona Daily Star 2013 interview with the expos founder, Dr. Mark Wolfson, Dr. Wolfson
points out that These are all bred; we take nothing from the wild, which ensures wild
populations arent being hurt (Allen 1) I did not observe many people leaving with a
purchase. Most were just there to gawk. I did, however, spot some very tiny Red-Eared sliders
that were under the legal size of 4 inches to sell. Tiny turtles can carry salmonella, a bacteria that
causes serious illness. (State of Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish)

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(Photos of Tucson Reptile and Amphibian Show, 2013)

I recently sat down with Lane Smith, TRRs second-in-command, to ask him how he felt
about the Tucson Reptile Show, as well as Tucson Reptile Rescues basic policies regarding
rescue and adoption. I particularly wanted his general opinion on the reptile pet trade and what
motivates him to volunteer.
I love animals and I hate to see them abused or uncared for he said. Its really
unfortunate because so many of them are imported or bred in captivity to be sold in the pet trade
with very little care or concern for the overall health or well-being of the animal. Its all for
profit, you know?
As for the Tucson Reptile Show, Smith remarked, By the end of the show I was telling
people that about 50 percent of the animals purchased at this reptile expo over this past weekend
will either wind up dead or back with us within the next two years. He went on to explain what
rescue is all about. The organization has no authority to walk into a home or business and
remove an animal. Were not the animal police, Smith says. Usually the pet is surrendered
voluntarily because the owner already knew they were unable to take care of it. Since TRRs
income is made strictly through donations, the owner will typically make a monetary donation

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and give up whatever supplies their animal was using. For instance, just prior to my arrival to do
this interview, a woman had turned over a 7 year old iguana that had gotten way too big and
problematic to handle. TRR will now house him and adopt him out to a new owner.
Pet adoptions from the center are handled in a very strict manner, even requiring a home
visit in certain instances to make sure the reptile is going to a good place. There is an adoption
fee in all cases. An iguana, for instance, requires lots of room, lots of sun, lots of salad and lots
of attention. They live for about 20 years, so a prospective owner needs to be prepared. The
new owners are thoroughly educated about food, housing and general care. Lane went on to
explain, Were much more selective than like a pet store. Were not in it for the moneywere
in it for the welfare of the animals. Lane said he is discouraged by things like a reptile show
and most pet shops because people buy the animals from a vendor instead of adopting from TRR.
If a pet reptile has escaped and is brought to TRR, all efforts will be made to find the owner. If
the owner is found to be unfit to care for their pet, they will be encouraged to leave that pet with
the rescue. But what if a reptile is abandoned or escapes into the wild? What is the impact on
our ecosystem if that happens?
According to the Arizona Game and Fish Departments web site, Arizona now has three
turtle species that are considered nonnative: the pond slider (red-eared and yellow-bellied), the
spiny softshell and the snapping turtle. All were introduced into the environment unnaturally
(dumped) and have established themselves in ponds here. The problem is that they compete for
resources with native turtles. They can often be predators of native turtles. Since they have no
natural predators living here, such as alligators, their population can grow out of control so they
expand their range even further. When I asked Lane what should be done to prevent the pond

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sliders expansion, he said, Ban their sale throughout the state. He told me that TRR is not
taking any new pond sliders because people will just keep buying new small ones and not adopt.
Finally, I asked Lane what, besides saving animals, he felt was Tucson Reptile Rescues
greatest achievement. Raising awareness, he promptly responded. The only way youll make
a real difference or bring about real change is changing the way people think about the pet
trade.
And what happened to my turtle, Gina? About mid-August, 2015 she and the other
turtles were released into their forever home on a military installation somewhere near the
Mississippi River. She made her first and last appearance on You Tube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFZoWe3_r2Y
(Photo of Lane Smith and Charlotte Gillis, co-directors, 2015)

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Works Cited
Allen, Kathleen. Show Offers Snakes, Monitors, Face Painters and more. Arizona Daily Star,
13 Oct. 2013, Web ed.:Entertainment. Web. 8 Oct. 2015
Red Ear Slider. Basic Care. Redearslider.com. 28 Jan. 2011. Web. 6 Oct. 2015
State of Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish Department. Nonnative Turtles of Arizona. Arizona
Game and Fish Dept. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2015
Tucson Reptile Rescue. Red Eared Slider Turtle information brochure. Tucson: Tucson Reptile
Rescue, 2015. Print.