Feeling guilty about the turtle

[EllenFrasier]

I was driving today and saw a turtle in the road. Other cars ahead of me were slowing down and trying to avoid hitting him and so did I. I didn't stop though. I looked back and another car had pulled over and I saw their door open, so I assume they were getting out to get the turtle out of the road. This was a big turtle - at least a foot long. Not common where we live to see a turtle that big in the road, sometimes we get little baby painted ones but this was a grandpa.

Anyway, I was thinking I probably should have stopped myself but I kept right on going. One reason I kept going is because I recently found out that rescuing wildlife comes with a price. My son (11) found a baby squirrel. We called the wildlife rehabilitation person in our area and she told us to put the squirrel by the tree and wait from a distance for the mom to come and get it. After several hours of waiting, my son was bored so he used my cell phone to play games on. Would have been fine except I don't have games on my phone and it cost me $13.00. Then the mom did not come down, so we had to drive to another town to bring the squirrel to a different rehabilitation person. I broke some kind of bracket under my car in her bumpy driveway and my car sounded like it was going to explode for a day or two until Dh could take a look at it! He fixed it, sort of, but there is still some kind of dragging sound there even though nothing is touching the ground.

So hopefully the good samaritan who stopped saved Mr. Turtle - I couldn't afford to stop!

 

[Feralpeg]

I'm sure the turtle is fine. While we all want to help these creatures, please know that the safety of other people comes first. Stopping in the middle of a road, especially a busy one, can be very dangerous to you and to others.

Many years ago, when I was student teaching, I had a little girl in my class. Her mother lost her life trying to remove a barrel off a highway. She was hit by a car and her children saw this happen. That poor little girl was so traumatized. There are people to cal for such things who can do it safely for everyone involved.

 

[ontariomonkey]

Once when we were camping as children, we saw a huge turtle by the side of the road so we stopped to have a look at it. My Dad thought it would be a great idea to pick it up so that we could get a better look. Can you guess where this is going? It was a snapping turtle and you should have seen the size of its mouth as it reached around to try and take a chunk out of my Dad! He missed luckily for my Dad.

What was my point? Oh ya, picking up turtles can be dangerous!

 

[lucas]

Those things can bite! I wouldn't have stopped but I would not have hit it.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

As much as I always try to help the turtles I see in the road in our area, it is important to be able to tell the difference between your common box and snapping turtles. Also, it's important to be careful even with the safe varieties. If I ever got hurt it would be my fault and I accept that as the possible price.

I did once see a snapping turtle about a foot and a half long in the road...didn't stop to help that guy!

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

I find turtles all the time in the road. If it is a small road with traffic going reasonably slow, I always pull over and put the turtle in my trunk...and take it to safety. If I feel it is too dangerous to stop....I don't, even though it kills me to do so! Thing is, then I will actually drive OUT of my way to avoid that street when coming home or for the next day or two. If I see the same turtle smushed on the road, I will feel awful.

Anyway, I am sure the turtle is fine...and that is funny about your expensive squirrel rescue!!!

 

[Magpie]

I don't take chances on roads - my life and my children's lives are more important than any animal's (or heaven forbid, a barrel!). If it's on the road, it's on its own, for good or ill - unless we're talking a totally safe situation where the road is empty.

This thread reminds me of an evil parenting moment! When my daughter was a preschooler she used to run away from me a lot. I was terrified she'd dart into the road. Then one day we came across a dead squirrel on the sidewalk. It was really nasty looking with its back legs all squished flat. I showed it to the kids and said, "See Mr. Squirrel? He didn't look both ways before he crossed the street. He ran out into the road, a car ran over him, and now he's dead. You don't want that to happen to you, do you?" My kids were a LOT more careful after that!