Saturday, May 21, 2011

a tale of two turtles

A week or so ago, while putting away trash cans belonging to some people who were out of town on a long vacation, I happened to spot a mysterious dark object in their swimming pool. I quickly discovered that it was a turtle swimming in there... the very same turtle that had wandered in a few months ago (which I had assumed had been removed and relocated months ago!). Not one the wild box turtles that live in the creek out back, it was a red eared slider, probably someone's pet that had been set free to fend for itself. I was rather horrified that it had been swimming in chlorinated water for that long, and that it was left without food or any way to get out of the water, I didn't really hesitate before I scooped the poor thing out and took it home. I set up a small wading pool with some minnows in it, and the very shy turtle dined happily on spinach and strawberries. Meanwhile, I contacted the people who owned the pool and they said yes I could find a new home for it (thank goodness!).

So a couple days later, the turtle and I took a little drive to my friend Lisa's horse ranch, which has a lovely pond full of fish. And there the turtle walked down to the edge of the water and slid into the murky depths. I'm pretty sure I saw him smiling. Coincidentally, later that day Lisa happened to be at the SPCA when someone came in to surrender two red eared slider turtles, and she brought them home too. Couldn't ask for a happier ending. :-)



Then this morning, there I was walking down the road with Angus, and a truck pulling a horse trailer pulled up next to me. It was my friend Anne, who I haven't seen for a while. She said she had noticed on Facebook that I accumulate animals, and I thought "oh no, what is she going to give me." She said she had just stopped to pick up a small turtle that was in the road a ways back. I agreed to take it, and thus this small turtle exchanged hands in the middle of the road. A brief lab exam (ha ha, get it? see photo...) showed it to be a box turtle (of which there are many living in the creek behind the house) and so into the creek bed the turtle was released. Welcome to my world, where these things just happen. :-) Many thanks Anne for taking the time to get the little guy out of harm's way!

6 comments:

dougzilla said...

That is, like, turtley cool!

Granny Annie said...

We visited a neighboring farm recently and their Lab was running around and around with a box turtle in his mouth trying to get someone to play but not letting anyone rescue the turtle from his jaws. Maybe Labs have a unique friendship with turtles?

Anonymous said...

lab exam = totally hilarious. Thanks for the laugh! -BMc

Jan Blawat said...

I found a huge (12 inch) tortoise several years ago near the railroad tracks by the Wilton Store. I stopped, picked it up, and took it back to the nearest stream, carefully crawled through someone fence and released it in a "perfect" place. About 25 miles down the road it hit me - that was a TORTOISE, not a water-type turtle. I should have kept it and turned it over to a rescue group. Maybe someday you and Angus will run across it on your walk, since you have this affinity for shelled creatures. It should be big as a Volkswagon by now.

Turtle Lover said...

Not wanting to be a killjoy (I think it's AWESOME that you saved the first turtle), but box turtles do not make good relocation prospects. They are very territorial, and if moved will most likely die trying to get back to their territory. For this reason, it is recommended that box turtles be moved the shortest distance possible. Please, if anyone finds a turtle on the road, just move it to the other side of the road where it was going! If just one person reads this and knows better next time, writing this paragraph will all be worth it.

Katherine Plumer said...

I had no idea! Thank you for sharing that!