We were on our way home from the vet’s office Tuesday (and that’s a story that you would thank me for not telling), when we saw this in the road.
A turtle, apparently not all that interested in actually crossing the road. I turned around and went back. It was all tucked inside its shell and not coming out. As I got closer to take this photo I realized just how big this thing was. I grabbed it about mid-shell. It peeked out but that was all.
Here’s a shot with my hand to give an idea of the scale.
I put the turtle in the weeds away from the edge of the road and we continued on. About a mile further down the road we saw another turtle. This one was considerably smaller, and not right in the middle of the road. By the time I turned around to go back, and then turned around again to get on the same side of the road, it was speeding in a turtle sort of way into the grass, so I didn’t have a chance to take a photo. And I didn’t have to rescue it either.
We haven’t seen any turtles on the road lately. Maybe the rain brought them out.
That is a very big turtle. Thank you thank you for getting it safely off the road. It’s the kindest thing we can do for the wildlife out there.
Robin — I simply cannot pass a turtle in the middle of the road without stopping. I’ve seen too many of them that didn’t make it. Even back 40-plus years ago when I was a reporter covering the boondocks, I stopped to move a turtle off the road. Since I always took my camera, I took a photo of the turtle in the middle of the road. A state trooper happened by and stopped to see what I was doing. He thought it was funny.
The turtle made it into the paper.