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Saturday 15 March 2008

A BIG Lost Turtle !

A few years ago the most amazing run in, with "wild life" actually happened on our front lawn. We are near some nature trails and protected wild life areas .. but we are also smack in the middle of a double cul du sac neighborhood with no immediate access to those places.
One afternoon my son came in the house and said "you are NOT going to believe what is on our lawn out front" .. well good grief .. this guy was totally lost and NOT in a good mood to boot. Hubby was quick thinking, he and number one son edged this poor guy into the fishing net and took him to the river edge in a swampy protected area .. and away Mr. Turtle went ..
This hasn't been topped by any other wild life incident other than the normal squirrel mafia gang and some very ardent male cats looking for a way to get to Sophie .. wish the turtle was back on those nights !


10 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Joy!
Matt loves you for saving the turtle. He's known as 'the turtle saver' in our family. -Jen :)

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hi jen .. I don't know why this guy picked our front yard .. it was the funniest thing .. hope he is still alive and doing well though ! .. we try very hard to set things right when we can : )

garden girl said...

He's beautiful Joy. Just look at his gorgeous shell! He actually does look cranky. He looks like a cranky old man.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hi Limtys .. that is why I was no where near him .. we think he was of the SNAPPING family .. LOL
But .. he was amazing to see .. glad to get him back to a safe spot .. still can't believe he made it to our front lawn !

WiseAcre said...

I'm never in a good mood either when I get netted. I guess that's because I'm never set free but instead given some chore to do.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

You know ... he was probably running away from his wife ... and her chore list for HIM ! LOL

Terra said...

How sweet you rescued the turtle.
This garden blogging in fun, I agree.
Terra
http://terragarden.blogspot.com

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hi Terra .. thanks for stopping by ! .. loved the story of the bouquet of dandylions and the teacher !

Anonymous said...

Your snappers look quite different from those behemoths I've saved. They have a habit of climbing up from the swamp, and come under the fence, to lay eggs (maybe they were already in a foul mood, before I intervened?) Had several close calls with my small dogs.

I've saved them as big as about 16" long, 30-35# each. Give them a stick to bite on and while they're busy, slide them into a tall trash barrel, on a long-handled, flat shovel. Stand the barrel up, secure it the pickup so it doesn't tip over and off we go to the nearby pond, so they can reunite with their family. (My dad would be proud - he taught me everything I know about this topic.)

Our huge swamp sometimes goes completely dry in summer, so you see these guys (well, I guess those egg-layers might have girls, eh?) crossing the neighborhood yards and streets (sometimes the little painted ones get run over - I've saved my share of these little cuties, too).

So, I guess we're fellow turtle facilitators. Our snappers look positively prehistoric with ridged carapaces and raised designs. I've seen them take down adult ducks out in the middle of that pond - ugh!

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Deb ! ... wow .. I would freak seeing monsters like THAT and to see them kill their meal ? .. I would run away screaming ! LOL
That is a great method to "capture" and release them !
This was the first and so far the last of anything like that landing on our front lawn .. than goodness .. the guys have to take care of stuff like that for me .. I would be too worried about it getting me or me hurting it while trying to help it.
I'm happy just handling my plants : )