Wichita — Rocket the giant tortoise has become a little too giant for the Sedgwick County Zoo.
The 77-year-old tortoise weighs in at 609 pounds, and that means he needs to leave the zoo where he’s lived for 40 years.
Within a month, Rocket is moving from his 1970-era amphibian and reptile building to live at the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum. That zoo has one of the most successful Aldabra tortoise breeding programs in the nation.
But Rocket’s move is only temporary. He’ll be in Tulsa until a new amphibian and reptile building can be built at the Sedgwick County Zoo, possibly three to five years.
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Pywacket (anonymous) says…
Well, that explains a lot. Is he pushing through bars that held him back when he weighed 608 lb? And, assuming he has professionals tending him as he slowly attained his great size, was it not possible to upgrade his facilities ahead of time in anticipation of the magical 609-lb threshold?
Seems a shame to put this animal through the stress of loading, transporting, unloading, and acclimatizing himself to new digs only to put him through it again in "three to five years," when Sedgwick has finished the upgrade.
I've been to the Sedgwick Zoo and it's a nice one. It seems odd that a little more thought and preparation didn't go into this, which might have prevented the animal's having to be shuttled to Tulsa for a temporary stay.
This article raises more questions than it answers.