Don Zeiller author of "So, You Like Turtles"

Evan, my neighbor, learning all about turtles from Don.


You’ve built a what?

I thought I was hearing things when you said you built a turtle sanctuary in your back yard. Pictures ran through my mind of your entire yard being a turtle cage. Why would someone do it, how would they do it, aren’t turtles on some endangered species list? Don’t turtles live to be 130 years old and more? Who will take it over when you are no longer here to care for them? Oh, the list of questions goes on and on.

It started when you were a little boy playing in the empty field that is behind my office. Just a toddler of five or so and in your romping imagination through the field you came face-to-face with your first box turtle. I too, know that love at first sight can be quite overpowering. Surely it was infatuation, something that would fade as other more exciting things came to you. No, this was real. This was love at first sight and it was meant to last a lifetime.

Studying turtles was not enough to satiate your appetite. On the contrary, when you found out that turtles have more natural enemies than most creatures and that the ever-expanding suburbia was destroying their natural habitats faster than they could find a new safe place to survive, the mission became apparent. You must build a sanctuary for the little ones to grow and flourish, away from crushing automobile tires, raccoons, birds, woodchucks and a host of other animals that can live quite nicely with people and on turtle meat.

When I visited your sanctuary, I tried very hard not to have any predetermined ideas about its appearance or how many turtles lived there. I wanted my experience to be pure. I wanted to absorb the essence of the place. I knew it would be a special experience. I was right.

Your sanctuary has everything a turtle needs for life: A place to be born, a head start enclosure where the little ones grow unencumbered from the threats of a normal everyday life. It is a place where a larger, more natural surrounding is open to the older turtle to romp around and play with other turtles of a similar age. All the while you keep a watchful eye to make sure everyone is well, growing and protected.

The larger turtles aged are free to walk the entire sanctuary at will. The perimeter is caged and safe from any natural predator and inside they have a choice of two ponds, various vegetation areas and assorted places to sun themselves. Mulch banks are everywhere, should the urge come to hibernate or just hunker down for a while. This is turtle heaven. Too bad a turtle can’t smile, because if they could, these guys would be grinning all the time. The sanctuary is home to turtles of all ages and varieties too, painted pond turtles, spotted turtles, box turtles and wood turtles. Wow, it boggles the mind.

I remember once walking in the forest with my dog and we came across a box turtle on its back. I felt sorry for it. It was just lying there hopeless with its legs in the air. No chance of it turning over in the position that it was in. You taught me that turtles that have been fighting for territory, and lose often end up like that. I turned the little guy over and felt like I really did a good deed that day, maybe so, if turtles live to be 130 years old. Or maybe he lived long enough to lose another territorial fight the following day. No matter, I felt that tinge of love at first sight and know what it feels like to help a turtle.

There may be more earth-shattering things to do in one’s lifetime…open-heart surgery, atom-splitting or running a fortune 500 corporation, but I doubt that any are more rewarding than your sanctuary. You have begun the care and feeding of a species that outlive the average human being, talk about a legacy! Having visited it and seeing how you have made provision for every need, even the eventual hand off to a nature center, when the time is right, is a testament to your dedication.

Turtles of the world unite, give thanks! Turtle-man is here and life is good.