Harry Houdini is a 140-pound sulcata tortoise, an animal usually native to the southern edge of the Sahara desert. But Harry's home? Staten Island.

Terry Troia is his owner.

"I feel like I’m living in National Geographic. My life is National Geographic," she said.

Troia is well-known on Staten Island, a minister who runs the homeless outreach center Project Hospitality and numerous food pantries, as well as immigrant advocacy services.

Nine years ago, she was driving to Albany for a conference and stopped near her home when she saw what she thought was a mechanical toy in the street.

She thought it was a turtle, and so she knocked on doors, asking residents if they'd lost the animal, which was then just 10 pounds.

An exotic animal veterinarian told her it was a desert tortoise. But there were no takers from residents or the local zoos. So she took him to to find a home.

"Nobody was really interested in him. And so we’re just kind of like together. He was homeless. He’s an undocumented immigrant; he doesn’t know what country he’s from,” said Troia. “He represents a rich history of the crescent of where civilization really began.”

Sulcatas are the third-largest tortoise species. While they're not yet endangered, they are vulnerable because of habitat loss in Africa and a vibrant underground market for the animals as pets.  

Harry is considered a rescue – and has found himself a home with Troia.

"He’s like, you know, watches TV and listens to jazz music as opposed to walking 100 miles in the desert, so he’s not like doing his gym stuff right," Troia said.

He hydrates using bucket baths, eats a bale of hay a month and, contrary to popular myths, moves pretty quickly.

He also loves riding in the car, a feat that's gotten more challenging the larger he grows. Troia used to allow him to ride shotgun until that one incident where he tried to drive the truck...himself.

"There have been times when he’s trying to shift the gears while I try to shift the gears, and both of us can’t shift the gears. Once he got stuck on the gear, and I had to stop in first and get somebody to help pick him up and get him off the gear because the gear got stuck inside his between his skin and his shell," she recalled.

Sulcata tortoises can live to be 100 years old. Harry is around 20 now. Troia says she expects he’ll outlive her.

She's hoping to eventually find him a home, someplace where he can continue to provide the peace and joy and spiritual grounding she says Harry has given to her.