Thursday was moving day for Shelly the Tortoise, who has lived more than 20 years at the Ecology Center at Scenic Hills Elementary School in Springfield, reports, Madeleine Wright for CBS News Philadelphia.
The 75-pound male African spurred tortoise was the heart and soul of the Ecology Center located in the school’s courtyard, but safety and health concerns prompted a decision to have Shelly evicted.
“I’m heartbroken about it. I feel that Shelly offers so much to the students at Scenic Hills Elementary School. He listens to them read. He’s there when they’re having a bad day,“ said retired Principal Madeline O’Dowd.
Fortunately, public sentiment was with Shelly. A fundraising effort raised $6,000 to build a pen at the home of retired second grade teacher Donna Storti.
Storti was Shelly’s primary caregiver while he was at the school, and she agreed to take the 45-year-old reptile onto her property.
Meanwhile, safety features are being built in to the Ecology Center so that birds, frogs and box turtles can remain.
Storti was impressed that a tortoise could rally a community.
“I guess what I was thinking–the last lesson I want to teach my children isn’t giving up on something, you know?
See more about Shelly’s new life at CBS News Philadelphia.
