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It’s a big week for Franklin the marginated tortoise who is being brought out of his slumber after chilling out in a refrigerator for three and a half months.
The tortoise, rescued from the shores of Shuswap Lake in the British Columbia Interior in 2022, has been in the refrigerator at the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops since Oct. 1, in a hibernation-like state known as brumation.
The park’s animal care manager Tracy Reynolds says marginated tortoises are more at home in a warm and dry Mediterranean climate, and winter in the B.C. Interior is “far too harsh” for Franklin to spend outdoors.
She says he’s been kept at 6 degrees Celsius in a refrigerator at the park but is scheduled to move into an indoor habitat with his new neighbour, a red-footed tortoise named Mortimer.
Reynolds says Franklin was likely an abandoned pet, and the people who rescued him cared for him for a few months before handing him over to the park.
She says brumation is a natural process for cold-blooded animals like tortoises, allowing them to conserve energy through winter.
“They don’t completely shut down or stop moving. They do move around a little bit in their little hibernation area. It’s just their body cools right down, and they go into a state of torpor … everything slows down,” Reynolds said.
Franklin was originally scheduled to leave the refrigerator on Tuesday but the move has been delayed by a day due to the absence of his keeper.
Reynolds said once Franklin’s body warms up, he’ll become active right away.
She said Franklin was reserved and ill when he was first brought to the park, but he has been getting stronger and more “outgoing.”
“I think we’re starting to see his personality, if you want to call it that, but it’s kind of changing over time, and his activity level and what he engages with is getting more and more as he gets healthier,” said Reynolds.
She said Franklin and Mortimer were both once pets but their owners probably “didn’t want them anymore because they are a very long commitment.”
She said Franklin’s story highlights the importance of doing research before getting a pet, particularly tortoises, since some species including marginated tortoises can live for 100 years.
“So, you’re not looking at just a five or 10-year commitment. You’re looking at maybe having to put it in your will,” laughed Reynolds, “It might outlive you.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2025.
Nono Shen, The Canadian Press
