Rockalina the rescued turtle has a tiny new friend : NPR

Rockalina, the eastern box turtle, watches a baby of her species run past.

State Garden Tortoise

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The story of Rockalina the turtle – who was rescued after almost half a century of neglect – now has a new twist.

Enter a baby turtle the size of Oreo, who will be Rockalina’s new friend and represents a turning point in her recovery.

“It was the first time she ever came face to face, like face to face with her own people,” said Chris Leone, who runs Garden State Tortoise, a turtle sanctuary based in New Jersey.

For nearly 50 years, Rockalina, an eastern box turtle, survived on the linoleum kitchen floor, her paws tangled in cat hair, her claws unnaturally curved upward as she subsisted primarily on cat food. She had been removed from the wild in the 1970s by a New York boy and had lived in this unnatural environment ever since.

Eastern box turtles are typically found near ponds, in grasslands and forests in the eastern half of the United States, according to the National Wildlife Federation. They get their name because they are able to squeeze entirely into their shell to thwart predators. They were once an abundant species, but their numbers have declined due to habitat loss, road accidents, and people collecting them as pets – like what happened to Rockalina.

When Leone came to pick her up in February, she was pale, seemed close to death and her eyes were covered with dead skin.

Rockalina, the Eastern Box Turtle, is seen in February, when she was first rescued by Garden State Tortoise.

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Leone said she has since spent the last 10 months “becoming a turtle because she was treated like anything else for almost 50 years.”

The pétanque ball-sized reptile showed remarkable resilience, spending time outside digging, chasing worms and munching on strawberries – a favorite treat. Its once white and rubbery skin returns to its natural shades of brown with rough scales. Her eyes are lighter and a deep mahogany shade.

“It’s still so emotional… there’s something about Rockalina, where it was like, ‘How the hell did she get out of this?’ ” Leone told NPR. “You know, she was mummified when we got her.”

“A beautiful moment”

And last week, she entered a new phase of her recovery. Spend time with your loved ones.

“A lot of people think that tortoises are solitary by nature when they’re not necessarily romantically involved with each other. … But they absolutely occur in colonies and groups in the wild,” Leone said.

He presented a newborn born at his center in Rockalina so they could socialize.

“I had a feeling it was going to go well, and it did. And she was immediately curious,” Leone said. “She was walking with it. She almost seemed to stop and let it pass her a little bit. And they just sniffed each other. They shared a strawberry. It was a beautiful moment.”

A baby eastern box turtle gnaws on a strawberry as Rockalina watches.

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Leone posted a video of the meeting, in which he excitedly hovers over the two turtles, monitoring their interaction.

“She’s sniffing her little butt,” he says in the video.

This first meeting is just the beginning for Rockalina. Leone has the same planned for her and hopes to eventually build a small box turtle colony for Rockalina.

“No pun intended, but I think it’s slow and steady that we’ll win the race here with her,” he said. “We just continue to take baby steps with her and eventually get to that end goal where she can be as wild as a box turtle as she can be in a captive management situation.”

Leone shared Rockalina’s journey with her followers, who now exceed one million on Facebook. They will even have the opportunity to write a part of its story: the name of the baby turtle will be based on suggestions from spectators.

Leone said the online response to Rockalina’s journey has been a big help in her mission to educate the public about creatures like her.

“It’s been incredible for us and a real blessing. But it’s even more so for his species, for the turtles,” he said. He added: “If we can get people to learn to appreciate them, to let wild turtles go wild and just enjoy them, for all their beauty and charisma, then that’s a win. And Rockalina has really been a huge stepping stone for that.”