Rusty Reed is a bit disappointed in how little Chicagoans know about turtles. “People keep saying they’ve never seen a turtle like Crunch,” he says, “but there was an even bigger one at the Brookfield Zoo for 45 years!” Reed is the owner of Crunch, a creamy green, 165-pound alligator snapping turtle who is over four feet long and somewhere between 150 and 200 years old. Crunch is in town as one of the hot attractions at the 2006 Chicagoland Outdoor Show in Rosemont, where he’s sitting motionless on the rocks at the bottom of his illuminated travel aquarium. Three men with mustaches, obviously coworkers, pass by holding plastic beer cups on their way to the animal-jerky mega booth around the corner. Noticing Crunch, one of the men teases his friend: “Hey, you’re just like that turtle!” The other man, laughing, joins in: “Yeah, it takes you three hours to paint the line!”
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Just then Reed overhears a little boy asking his father if the turtle is dead, and springs into action. Turning his mike back on, he announces that Crunch only moves to come up for air every 24 to 30 minutes. If they want to stick around, he assures, the turtle will be up for a breath in a couple minutes. Then he checks his watch. “I make sure never to say ‘last breath,’” Reed says with his microphone still on, “but he last came up at 3:46, so he could breathe again anytime now.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/A. Jackson.
