Giant Desert Tortoise (Arizona)
1251 Highway 95,
Bullhead City, Arizona
86429
In Bullhead City, the town across the Colorado River from Laughlin, there is a giant two ton desert tortoise. It's named Poki and was originally commissioned by a man named Bill Hayes. Hayes had noticed the tortoise sculpture at a highway interchange in Las Vegas, and thought they would look cool at his winter home in Bullhead City. He evantually was able to purchase one from the manufacturer who made the giant tortoise in Tucson, Arizona.
Hayes was a winter visitor to Bullhead City every year, but when, for health reasons, he stopped driving south for the winter from his home in Montana, he donated Poki to the city and it was moved to its current location, outside the Bullhead Area Chamber of Commerce on Highway 95, in January 2014.
Hayes referred to it as "It's just a pokey old tortoise," which is how the tortoise got its name, Poki.
California has its own giant tortise named Murtle the Turtle which can be found in Joshua Tree.
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First Created: 2020-11-25
Last Edited: 2020-11-25
