Ungrateful little (insert explicative here)!!

[hrh_disney_queen]

On my way home from shopping today, I turned off the expressway on the exit ramp. A little way up I could see a lump in the middle of my lane. I slowed down-at first I thought it was a sweatshirt or piece of clothing. When I got closer and started to go around it, I saw it was a turtle trying to cross the road. So I checked in back, and backed up so I could block traffic in that lane, waiting for the other lane to clear. I was going to toss him back down the hill he had come up-we live in marshes, so there was probably a body of water down there.

Anyway, one of the cars next to me stops, so now all traffic is stopped. I have a big truck in back of me, so I get ready to go save this little guy's life. The woman in the stopped car hops out of her car to do the same. We go up to him, I nudge his behind, and the little *&#$%@^% SPINS AROUND and tries to bite me. Yep, he isn't one of those nice turtles that just mosey around all day, he is a big ole' snapping turtle, and he is snapping at my Birkenstock clad (unclad) toes!! I then tried to reach down and push him from behind with my hand-bad idea, have you ever seen a turtle SPIN? It's funny to see, but not when your hand is where you thought it should be safe..but it's not! So we are ready to just leave and let Mr. Pissy Pants go ahead and get run over, because he certainly won't let us help him. The other woman runs to her car and returns with an empty box. I am thinking.."are you kidding me, you are going to try to put him in that box??!!" Then she starts to push him with it, and he is moving ever so slightly towards the side of the road, snapping and biting at the box all the way..and BTW, this thing wasn't really "little" he probably weighed about 10-15 pounds, and I am guessing he was about 18 inches long. And he wasn't going down without a fight. Finally after what seemed like an eternity (cars are really piling up now, and I am sure the folks that could see us were laughing their butts off at us.), the little SOB finally gets to the side of the road. One good push would have sent him flying down the hill to his previous residence. But we were so ticked off at him by then, and he was facing us with his mouth wide open(could have fit a golf ball in it easily.), so we let nature take over and left him there. He was on his own.

It doesn't pay to be an ingrate. Remember that..

 

[EpcotBeauty]

Wait, you held up traffic to try and get a turtle out of the road? I'm sure the other people in those cars were not laughing.

 

[nataliela]

how funny!!!

Thank you for doing this. You not only saved the turtles life. You could have also prevented a wreck from someone swerving to miss the turtle.

I'm sure the people didn't mind the 2 minute delay~!

 

[rabx5]

The little stinker- thank you for saving him/her though

 

[OrlandoMike]

Wait, you held up traffic to try and get a turtle out of the road? I'm sure the other people in those cars were not laughing.

It happens all the time here in Florida, and every time I have "rescued" a turtle from the road, everyone always stops, then once the rescue is over, they usually pass slowly and give me a thumbs up!

Whats wrong with taking 30 seconds out of your life to save some poor turtle from getting smashed by a truck?

And I too am usually snapped at or at least hissed at!

 

[Hoodie]

We were always rescuing turtles since we grew up on a pond.

The snappers go for you and the painteds pee on you. Either way, they never seemed very grateful!

 

[NotUrsula]

If you're going to be a habitual turtle-rescuer, you need to start carrying a shovel in your car. A nice big flat square one. You slide that sucker under him and scoot him right off the road.

 

[wardfamily1]

Like the old saying goes "No good deed goes unpunished"

At least you tried, I'll give you a thumbs up for that.

 

[Angelhalo]

Wait, you held up traffic to try and get a turtle out of the road? I'm sure the other people in those cars were not laughing.

I stop and move turtles off the road all the time. I don't care if the people behind me are swearing up a storm. They can sit there and swear.

 

[minniecarousel]

Thanks for the chuckle!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

are you sure he just didnt' like your Birkenstocks?

I just couldn't resist.

 

[MN Vikings Fan]

It happens all the time here in Florida, and every time I have "rescued" a turtle from the road, everyone always stops, then once the rescue is over, they usually pass slowly and give me a thumbs up!

Whats wrong with taking 30 seconds out of your life to save some poor turtle from getting smashed by a truck?

And I too am usually snapped at or at least hissed at!

Amen to that! There are good people left in the world!

 

[agnes!]

You have to be careful with snapping turtles, they can take a huge chunk out of you or take a finger (or two) off. To me snapping turtles resemble an artifact from the age of the dinosaurs.

agnes!

 

[Magic Mom]

I stop and move turtles off the road all the time. I don't care if the people behind me are swearing up a storm. They can sit there and swear.

I do to, but I wouldn't ever on the exit ramp of a highway. That's really dangerous for the person stopping, and for other's trying to exit.

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Wait, you held up traffic to try and get a turtle out of the road? I'm sure the other people in those cars were not laughing.

Not everyone is in such a hurry that they're willing to run over wildlife. I'm sure the people behind the OP got over themselves when they figured out what was going on.

A few weeks ago I had to slam on the breaks when a car a few in front of me stopped and people were jumping out, there was a duck family crossing the freeway off-ramp and they were helping them move along. Once we saw what was up we just commented on how cute the babies were.

 

[EpcotBeauty]

I do to, but I wouldn't ever on the exit ramp of a highway. That's really dangerous for the person stopping, and for other's trying to exit.

That was my issue, the OP stopped on an exit ramp and that had to be very dangerous. No animal is worth endangering human life imo.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I guess I should step in here and let everyone know that the expressway I was coming off is not an Interstate, although it is 60mph. It ends at downtown Savannah, so by the time my ramp comes along, the traffic isn't as bad. It took a couple of minutes for the traffic to back up..it may have been dangerous, but I didn't feel like I was in danger, especially after the other driver stopped next to me, and the big pickup truck stopped behind me. People are supposed to slow down for exit ramps, and be prepared to stop for the light ahead. People that use that ramp also know that it can back up all the way to the highway.

Even though the turtle was an evil B*&^%$&*D, I still couldn't let him get run over. If it would have been ON the highway, I would have kept on going..

On the way to the ocean, there are lots of yellow "Turtle Crossing" signs, probably for the Loggerhead Turtles that nest out on the beach.

We used to get the little Box turtles on the road when I lived in SC. I always stopped for them, and they would close up so no danger of getting bitten. I would take them and toss them back into the woods where they came from. I can only imagine what they would think when they went flying through the air and landed in the dead leaves.

I turtles, but not THAT one!

 

[EMom]

DD loves to hear the story of when Mommy saved the turtle. It was on a pretty busy road and I did have to stop traffic. He was so soggy and slimy and nasty when I picked him up......and I'm a germaphobe! But the animal lover in me won out over the germaphobe. He was headed for one marshy area to another, with the road being in between. I was amazed at how heavy that sucker was. I got a big round of applause from the other cars afterward. But no amount of Germ-X made me feel clean. I couldn't wait to get to a sink, hot water and soap.

You did a good thing.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

DD loves to hear the story of when Mommy saved the turtle. It was on a pretty busy road and I did have to stop traffic. He was so soggy and slimy and nasty when I picked him up......and I'm a germaphobe! But the animal lover in me won out over the germaphobe. He was headed for one marshy area to another, with the road being in between. I was amazed at how heavy that sucker was. I got a big round of applause from the other cars afterward. But no amount of Germ-X made me feel clean. I couldn't wait to get to a sink, hot water and soap.

You did a good thing.

..I never minded picking up the box turtles..they weren't slimy, and you could pick them up with two fingers and a thumb... But this snapper had been living in the water, so he had slime and seaweed and some little round thingies on his back. And I was STILL going to pick him up and toss him down the hill. But he wanted no part of that. When he spun around he would actually come up off the ground in the front. I knew what he was before I touched him, just never thought they could MOVE that fast...reminded me of Crocodile Hunter..

p.s.. I had a Chrissy doll, too.

 

[EMom]

Hmmm....I wonder if a higher percentage of former Chrissy doll owners are present day turtle savers?