The Garden State Tortoise opened its doors to countless turtles in need over the years, but none of them compares to Otis. Their social media pages started blowing up after the adorable Eastern box turtle Otis walked into their lives and became a true internet celebrity.
Garden State Tortoise is a turtle rescue and breeding facility in Atlantic County, founded by Chris and Casey Leone. It opened its doors in 2011, and it now handles a bulk of all the reptile rescues for the state of New Jersey, in addition to serving as a breeding facility and taking part in conservation and preservation efforts through education.
Many animals went through the Garden State Tortoise over the years, but none of them made a bigger impression on the Leones than Otis. They never came to learn why he was abandoned by his previous owners but decided to keep him because he couldn’t be safely returned to the wild.
“In over 30 years of doing this professionally, I have never met another reptile [like this], and even the other ones that are shared on YouTube and stuff. They are personable animals. He’s on another level,” Chris Leone told News 12 New Jersey.
Otis’ hilarious videos attracted millions of views over the years, and the Garden State Tortoise is using his internet fame to collect donations for the other animals in need at the rescue.
