Snapping Turtle (5/25/2014)

On the way to the marina on Sunday, I all see a big turtle struggling to get across the road.  The county was building a new sewer pumping station in the area, and I am sure that dislocated some animals.  Knowing that this general area is not very environmentally friendly (I’ve seen trucks going back and forth over a black rat snake, which is non-poisonous and a great way to keep rodents down in your yard), I stopped the car, put on my hazard lights and was going to move the turtle.

I immediately identified the turtle as a snapping turtle.  Snapping turtles are famous for biting and painfully so.  From the point of its tail to the tip of the nose this one was 1.5 feet big.  Realizing it was a snapper, I had to do something.  I knew the next car was going to kill it; if not for its prized meat in turtle soup.

This guy was nasty, just touching his shell made him snap at me and knowing its reputation I decided to not go any further.  So I went to the car and got a teak board that I had in the car (I was going to the boat remember) and when I approached him with the board he struck it violently and hit it with a big bang.  He did this one more time and seeing I could not encourage him to get off the road, I rolled him over twice with the board till he was at the side of the road.  The board was slimy when he had hit it.  So here he was sitting looking at me angrily.  I took a photo and went on to the boat.  Coming back two hours later there was no squished turtle on or near the spot, so my relocation project was successful.  A good Sunday.