TEWKSBURY, N.J. - Richard Ogust found his calling in Chinatown. There, he met Empress, a black-and-orange diamondback terrapin trapped in a tank at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
A decade after Ogust paid $20 to liberate Empress, his Manhattan loft is filled with 80 species of turtles - more than the Bronx Zoo.
But the operation has been costly, both financially and personally, and Ogust has organized a nonprofit group with the goal of moving his menagerie from Tribeca to 50 acres on a farm in Tewksbury.
"I am freaking out about the responsibility and the weight to keep it all going," Ogust, 51, told The Star-Ledger of Newark.
A thousand turtles have passed through Ogust's ninth-floor walk-up, which buzzes with flies and smells like a fish kill.
More than 100 gurgling tanks are stacked from the floor to the 20-foot ceiling and surrounded by PVC tubes and colorful electrical wiring. The thermostat stays at 80 degrees.
"I tend to take things very far once I start them," Ogust said.
The entire operation costs $20,000 per month, including $7,000 in produce, worms, minnows and other turtle food. The dozen polybead filters used in the tanks cost $300,000 to install.
Private donors and grants help, but Ogust foots most of the bill.
His collection ranges from 60-pound Burmese Mountain Tortoises to half-pound Musk turtles. They come from illegal shipments, Asian food markets and even zoos, which entrust the rarest of species to his care.
Of 60 critically endangered Arrakine Forrest turtles currently in the United States, 34 reside in Ogust's apartment.
For now, they are not disturbing anyone. Ogust, who has an inheritance, owns the building, which is being renovated.
Last year, Ogust organized the nonprofit Tewksbury Institute of Herpetology. The group has spoken to Tewksbury officials several times and hopes to make a presentation to the township planning board soon.
Plans call for a 50-acre hydroponic paradise on a farm owned by Maurice Rodrigues, a member of the institute's board of directors.
Volunteers will complete most of the construction, Ogust said, but building a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse and remodeling an old dairy barn will cost at least $600,000.
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