'I love them': How a St. John's man is saving abandoned turtles

To say Dennis Oliver has a passion for turtles would be an understatement.

The basement of his St. John's apartment has become ground zero for what he and his wife have made their life goal — to save all the unwanted turtles in the city.

Oliver calls the project the Turtle Rest and Retirement Villa, and a quick tour around his home reveals several tanks and a large indoor pond he built himself that contains dozens of turtles, along with hoses and filtration systems so complex it would give any pet store a run for its money.

'A man needs a hobby'

Oliver became interested in turtle care in 2013, when he decided to get one as a pet. After he made a quick post on Kijiji looking for a free one, he says the phone hasn't stopped ringing. That's when the project was born.

"I gave up drinking, and a man needs a hobby, something to spend his money on," Oliver told CBC News.

"Nobody was doing this, saving the turtles. We have the herpetological society, but like a lot of smaller animal rescues, they are struggling."

As more and more people answered his ad and dropped their turtles off at his apartment, Oliver decided it was time to build an artificial pond. Located in his basement, it includes a large enclosure with water, sand for the reptiles to lay eggs in and an area with grass for them to relax.

In the water, with dozens of turtles swimming around, Oliver can differentiate them all, with their names ranging from Big Mama to Handsome Bob.

He's even gone so far as to get special permits from the provincial wildlife department to own turtles banned in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Big plans for little reptiles

Three years in, Oliver now considers saving turtles his full-time job. When people come to him to drop off their abandoned pets, he only asks they give him whatever equipment or tanks they have, which he then resells to generate money.

While he is open to finding new homes for the turtles, he is perfectly fine with keeping them himself — quite a commitment, considering some can live to be 80 years old.

"That's one thing people can't grasp, they are going to outlive you," he said.

"When little Suzy or Johnny is tugging on mom's coat at the pet store asking for the cute baby turtle, people don't think about that."

Oliver has to walk a fine line with Turtle Rest and Retirement Villa, being careful not to label it as a shelter or a non-profit, which he is not allowed to run from a residence.

Shortly after his interview with CBC, a staffer from the City of St. John's came to his home to tell him he had to remove a sign posted outside, saying he was not allowed to advertise it in such a way.

For now Oliver is OK with not being officially recognized.

His plan is to eventually move into a commercial space where he can treat the villa as a proper rescue, and has petitioned the municipalities of St. John's, Mount Pearl and Paradise to help him in the same way they do for the SPCA. So far, he hasn't gotten very far.

"There is a large need for these smaller rescues like ourselves," he said. "It could make quite an attraction, it could even generate revenue, the cities might be interested in that."

In the meantime, Oliver is happy just to be able to rescue abandoned turtles, and ensure they can live out their "retirement" happily in his basement. He said his interest and love for the animals is what keeps him going.

"I love them, they are fantastic creatures," he said.

"But please, don't dump your turtles in the pond, don't dump them in the streams, don't use them for hockey pucks. Give us a phone call. If you really don't want the turtle we will take it from you."