If you live in New York City , beloved reptile , and are looking for a slow - paced side gig , a local positron emission tomography owner is hiring a weekday Alice Walker to take her African goad tortoise on easy nature manner of walking .
“ Henry ’s very active when the weather ’s nice and paces around the flat , ” Green tell Mental Floss . “ A world-weary tortoise can be a destructive tortoise . "
word of the ad go viral , and Green received “ hundreds and hundreds ” of job applications from around the world . She ended up hiring Amalia McCallister , an beast - loving neighbor who make for at a local pet storage . Now , McCallister is displace awayto Chicago , and Green demand to observe a replacement Zimmer .
The tortoise - walking fizgig pays $ 11 an hour , according to a new Craigslist adposted by Green . Since Henry weighs around 20 pounds , Green ply walkers with a preferred perambulator to transport the monumental critter to and from Central Park . Once Henry come , “ he starts his ballpark trips by mowing the lawn , specially dandelions , ” Green says . “ After a while , he ’ll saunter the trails or along any fencing line he can find . ( The guy loves a circumference . ) Then he ’ll snack more and sun after a while . Sometimes he savvy a little , too . ”
The job has its challenges : For one , Henry ramble freely in the grass without a leash , so the choose candidate will need to keep a very close center on him . “ Henry is surprisingly industrious and hardy , ” Green writes in her Craigslist ad . “ The giving thing to determine out for is him eating trash or kid trying to feed him . ”
Also , being a tortoise Alice Walker is “ more strong-arm than people expect , ” Green says . “ Henry ’s basically a kettlebell with four legs . He need help in and out of the baby buggy , and I live in a third - floor walkup apartment . The chore can also want being stern with people . A few times per class , some mansplainer will tell me I should allow Henry to swim ( he ’d die ) or survive in the park all class long ( he ’d die ) , and I have to explain tortoises to him . I ’ve also had people seek to flow Henry donuts and other forbidden solid food , which is annoying . For the most part , though , citizenry are great . ”
Finally , you ’ll have to pick up Henry ’s poop . ( For the record , Green observe that it ’s “ quite dry and look like the sess he wipe out all daytime . " )
One fringe benefit of the business ? If you ’re unmarried , Henry might help you nock a date . “ I ’ve evidence my single guy friends that Henry ’s the ultimate wingman , ” Green say . “ Womenlovehim . "
Green ’s ad has already received close to 100 responses , so if you want to discard your lid into the ring , you should respond sooner rather than by and by . And even if you do n’t stop up getting lease , you could still follow Henry ’s adventureson Instagram .
[ h / tGothamist ]
