Why don't we do it in the road?

[ericcoleman]

I'm heading out to get some lunch and I come to the end of the road that my workplace is on and there are geese out for a walk. Dozens of them. This is not that uncommon, although you would think, that since the friggin things can fly, that they would. But NO, they're walking.

In the middle of all this is a big friggin turtle. I mean big, 15-20 lbs. I know this since I got out of my car and carried it to the grass next to the pond. I felt that I needed to, since some truck would come around that corner and squash the poor guy flat, and I couldn't let that happen, at least not today.

I would like to state now that, in my limited experience, turtles are ungrateful creeps, this thing was trying to take my arms off the entire way across the street. It did NOT like being picked up and carried.

Comments

[dek9.livejournal.com]

I did that once... going down our road when I was still in MI, with the kids in the car, there was a much smaller than yours turtle in the road, but still not tiny. I pulled over and stopped, got a sweatshirt out of the back of the car and threw that over it. Picked it up and carried it off the road.

When I got back in the car, Aidan asked what I'd been doing. I told him I didn't want the turtle to get hurt. I think I became his hero then, at least for the day.

[ericcoleman]

Hey, you take what you can. I've been a hero to various members of the WSPA at least once each

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

Turtle says, "You're blowing my cover, man. I had them convinced I was a goose!"

[(Anonymous)]

Several years ago, we were camping by a large lake where there was an ancient snapping turtle. One of the other campers decided to take it out and swung an axe at its neck. He missed the turtle's neck, the axe (a full size one, not a hatchet) embedded in the muddy shore by the lake, and the turtle darted its head over and bit through the axe shaft.

I don't think turtles like much of anything.

[ericcoleman]

They are the true curmudgeons of the animal world.

And who are you?

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Sorry. My IT department cleared my cookies this morning and I forgot to log in.

[vretallin.livejournal.com]

Turtles arevery insecure when lifted in the air. Snapping turtles are just mean as a defensive mechanism. Nothing nice about them.

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

But NO, they're walking.

A nesting pair of ducks have chosen our neighborhood to build a nest in.

We're two blocks from a lake. We're a block from a big-ass bit of nature preserve. With a pond.

These guys spent weeks strolling around the block looking - I guess - for a yard without dogs and with homeowners with quiet habits. They'd walk across the road .. no - they ambled, while polite citizens stopped their cars to let them cross.

They finally settled on a retiree's yard behind us - he has a lot of hedges in a big fenced yard and doesn't spent a lot of time outside. Every so often you hear quaking ...

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

Quacking. Not Quaking.

[tanac.livejournal.com]

A Society of Ducks? :)

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

Yes, and they are all Friends.

[tollermom]

Yay you!

(I too am a member of the "I Rescue Road Turtles" club... I'll also block both lanes while ducks or geese cross, 'cause some people are just big enough creeps to come from the other direction and flatten 'em after they've safely crossed one lane.)

[bammba-m.livejournal.com]

i saw a thing (on discovery or pbs) that said it takes birds (specifically migratory birds, but i imagine the same is true of all birds capable of flight... for those birds not capable of flight, flying would definitely require more effort than walking) way more energy to fly a few yards than to walk it.

Thanks for helping the turtle. That makes me happy.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

My thinking is that this would be even more the case for a large bird such as a goose. Whereas flying a small distance is next to nothing for, say, a starling.

[guppiecat]

At the zoo they kick them.

Really. When it's time to put the aldebra tortoises back into their houses for the night, the keepers get there early and gently kick them so that they move in the right direction.

I once watched two keepers trading off kicking a tortoise for an hour (they kept getting tired) until he was finally in the house for the night.

Tortoises (and turtles) are slow.

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

I take it this was a snapping turtle? I don't know of any other local species that would run that big.

[ericcoleman]

I dunno, I didn't ask.

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

It is turtle in the road season. I saw three or four in the travels of the last two days.


Pointy ridge down the middle of the back is snapping turtle. Or if it removes your limb or digit.

Maybe someday a turtle will save YOU against your will.

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

I thought it was the rabbits that followed you around...

Did you see Sheila the Tortoise at Duckon?

Had a couple box turtles of my own, pretty small ones, compared to those. Got them when I was in junior high, so they're at least 25 by now, plus whatever they were when we got them.

I don't know, maybe this one was trying to go after the geese?

turtle encounter

[janmagic.livejournal.com]

jersha and duckon program chair work at a pharmacy school. i have brought Spot in and told of his medical challenges and what medicines were used. one year i brought my neighbors 70lb 2 1/2 ft diameter? (feet across) african spur tortus, he was raised from something way smaller. he was a welcome guest wandered all around the room we were in, and had his own medical story.

after wheeling him back on a cart for the ride home, lifting him out to the driveway of his home, telling my neighbor what a success the adventure was. the turtle evacuated his bladder.. gallons worth. i was WAY HAPPY he waited till he was out of the car.