- Title: Henry the tortoise takes a Central Park walk
- Date: 19th May 2016
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 19, 2016) (REUTERS) OWNER OF HENRY THE TORTOISE, AMANDA GREEN, TORTOISE WALKER, AMALIA MCCALLISTER, PUSHING STROLLER WITH HENRY INSIDE AT CENTRAL PARK (SOUNDBITE) (English) OWNER OF HENRY THE TORTOISE, AMANDA GREEN, SAYING: "I love tortoises. I knew he was going to have a personality to me, but he actually has a personality to a lot of people. He's not shy, he's very outgoing, he will walk up to anyone in the park. He has walked onto people's picnic blankets and surveyed their food. He's not shy, he's not scared, he's kind of the perfect New Yorker, you know, up for anything and very into meeting people from all walks of life. Whenever someone comes to my apartment, he actually will greet them, whether it's the Time Warner guy, the Fresh Direct guy, a friend, me. He just kind of is the, he's that person at the party that mingles and talks to everyone. He's the mixer, I guess." GREEN TAKING HENRY OUT OF STROLLER MCCALLISTER UNTANGLING HENRY FROM STROLLER GREEN PLACING HENRY ON GROUND WIDE OF HENRY WALKING TO GRASS (SOUNDBITE) (English) OWNER OF HENRY THE TORTOISE, AMANDA GREEN, SAYING: "I placed the ad because just like a person who has a dog would hire a dog walker, I figured why not a tortoise walker? I know it's probably a job I'm inventing, but Craigslist has someone for everything. And so I anticipated a few people would respond, and maybe half of them would be a little bit nuts, and half of them might be possibilities, but instead the ad did go viral. And so hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people responded, including people outside of the Tri-State area who were interested in the job - someone from Australia, people from England, people from Texas, people from all over the country who said, 'if I were there, I would be the perfect person'. It took on a life of its own, and I thought maybe I'd hear from five people, but instead I heard from about 500." CLOSE UP OF HENRY EATING GRASS MCCALLISTER AND HENRY VARIOUS CLOSE UP OF HENRY EATING GRASS (SOUNDBITE) (English) OWNER OF HENRY THE TORTOISE, AMANDA GREEN, SAYING: "Bringing a tortoise out in Central Park gets a lot of attention and usually when we interact with strangers in the city, it's negative stuff, it's like, 'excuse me can you move into the train?', or, 'you stepped on my foot,' or, 'hey you're my neighbor you're being too loud.' But this is a chance to talk to strangers, and it's purely positive and they're excited to talk to you, so that's kind of a privilege of bringing him, and I feel like I'm part of what helps make New York weird, in a time when New York is getting less and less weird. It's losing a lot of what people love about it because of the way it's so expensive now, and people have to work so hard just to afford to live here. So it's kind of a cool way of making sure New York stays a little bit weird, so I guess having Henry out here doing that is also like a really fun part of having him, just getting to share him with people." PAN FROM GREEN AND HENRY TO MCCALLISTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) TORTOISE WALKER, AMALIA MCCALLISTER, SAYING: "You honestly do have to keep your eye on him. I could, maybe, read a book, but you got to make sure he doesn't eat the wrong thing. And there's sometimes little mushrooms or different things will hide underneath the grass, so you've got to be careful. So, just watching this animal for hours is actually very meditative and adorable. So it's like a really fun job because I kind of just am sitting here locked in with this reptile as opposed to schlepping things and like dealing with angry customers. No one's angry around him, usually, which is great." HENRY EATING GRASS (SOUNDBITE) (English) TORTOISE WALKER, AMALIA MCCALLISTER, SAYING: "He's all about the grass when he's out here. He's excited because he's in his element. He's got sunshine, he's got the food that he wants, and so nothing really fazes him." SKY, THEN GREEN, HENRY AND MCCALLISTER IN THE GRASS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MEETING HENRY MCCALLISTER PICKING UP HENRY AND PUTTING HIM IN STROLLER WOMAN PUSHING BABY STROLLER TO HENRY IN STROLLER VARIOUS OF MCCALLISTER WALKING HENRY IN STROLLER PAN FROM SIGN READING (English): 'WELCOME TO CENTRAL PARK' TO POND
- Embargoed: 3rd June 2016 21:26
- Keywords: tortoise Henry walker tortoise walker Amanda Green Amalia McCallister
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0014IH7TY1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Henry, a 17-pound tortoise, munched away happily on grass in Central Park on a warm spring day on Thursday (May 19).
His walker, Amalia McCallister beat out hundreds of applicants when she answered a Craigslist ad placed by his owner, Amanda Green. McCallister spends a couple of hours twice a week walking the 16-year-old sulcata tortoise.
Green adopted Henry more than two years ago from a woman who had her hands full as a mom.
"I love tortoises," Green said. "I knew he was going to have a personality to me, but he actually has a personality to a lot of people. He's not shy, he's very outgoing, he will walk up to anyone in the park. He's that person at the party that mingles and talks to everyone. He's the mixer."
Green works as a copywriter for style and beauty website Refinery29 and saw that Henry craved more than just the weekend walks she was able to give him. Green placed the ad in Craigslist not realizing the ad would go viral.
"I placed the ad because, just like a person who has a dog would hire a dog walker, I figured why not a tortoise walker?" she said. "It took on a life of its own, and I thought maybe I'd hear from five people, but instead I heard from about 500."
She eventually picked McCallister because of her experience working in a pet store and her openness with the many people who approach her, asking questions about Henry.
"You honestly do have to keep your eye on him," McCallister said, who works three jobs but said walking Henry was by far her favorite.
"I could, maybe, read a book, but you got to make sure he doesn't eat the wrong thing. And there's sometimes little mushrooms or different things will hide underneath the grass, so you've got to be careful. Just watching this animal for hours is actually very meditative and adorable. So it's like a really fun job because I kind of just am sitting here locked in with this reptile as opposed to schlepping things and dealing with angry customers."
When Green is away at work, Henry is allowed to roam free in her one-bedroom apartment, with the exception of the living room. The spunky reptile once broke through the pet gate and knocked over a 6 foot mirror, but escaped unharmed.
"Bringing a tortoise out in Central Park gets a lot of attention, and usually when we interact with strangers in the city, it's negative stuff, it's like, 'excuse me can you move into the train?, or, 'you stepped on my foot,' or, 'hey you're my neighbor you're being too loud'," Green said.
"But this is a chance to talk to strangers and it's purely positive and they're excited to talk to you so that's kind of a privilege of bringing him, and I feel like I'm part of what helps make New York weird, in a time when New York is getting less and less weird. It's losing a lot of what people love about it because of the way it's so expensive now and people have to work so hard just to afford to live here. So it's kind of a cool way of making sure New York stays a little bit weird. So I guess having Henry out here doing that is also like a really fun part of having him, just getting to share him with people."
For more of Henry's adventures in the big city, he can be found on Facebook and Instagram @thenotortoisebig. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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