We live near a river. Every year around this time, the turtles begin digging nests for their eggs. We have one old woman who digs her nest in the soft gravel on the side of the road here. Cass gets really excited when he sees her. We go out and take pictures and comment on how much she looks like an alligator, with her wicked bill and her long tail and those stubby sharp claws. We wonder what happened to her since the last time we saw her, and why there is still (after five years)red paint peeling off the back of her shell. I like the continuity of it, that she comes back here, and we talk about the circle of life and homing instincts.
Well, we did.
This morning, C hollered that the turtle was across the road. We hurried and got dressed. While we were hunting for my camera I heard a thump-crack noise - peering out, I saw our turtle had ventured out on the road and gotten hit. And was pretty obviously dead. (Turtle blood is red, in case you were wondering.)
I still can't wrap my head around this. She was easily 16-18 inches long, and probably 5-6 inches high (a real grande dame of turtle age-dom) - how did someone hit her? Two options come to mind:
The driver wasn't paying attention. What the hell were they doing that was so important that they didn't see something the size of a small boulder in their way? Makes me re-think letting my kids out to play.
or
The driver deliberately hit her. There are sick, sad people in this world. I just wasn't aware any of them were living close to me.
Last year:
I need to go and try to convince C that we can't dig up the eggs and rescue them.
(They don't hatch, they never hatch - her favorite nesting site gets too much of the road salt.)
Which is another senseless and stupid thing for me to get upset about.
7 comments:
Good Christ, how shocking!
I hope it was a careless accident, and not intentional -- but you're right. There are sick people amongst us. I won't even tell the story of the pair of ducks crossing the road.
It is not a senseless and stupid thing that you get upset about the eggs never hatching. Of course you're upset. It's sad that the Grande Dame of Turtles is the last of her line.
Are there wildlife rehabilitators anywhere near you? Perhaps they can dig up the eggs and relocate them, or incubate them. Your local SPCA or Animal Control might have a contact.
I'm sorry you lost your turtle friend. I'm sorry your C had to learn an ugly life reality.
ugh. this kind of stuff makes my stomach turn too. it seems like it just gets amplified and made 100 times worse when you have explain it to a KID when you yourself doesn't fully understand why it happened. poor cass. poor you. poor turtle momma.
Awww, that is sad. I had a similiar incident happen where I lived before here. This turtle was VERY large, and like yours, was laying her eggs up on the side of the road from the river. I was behind a car that INTENTIONALLY pulled off the shoulder of the road to hit the turtle and kill her. I was SO mad - how could someone do such an inhumane act?? Unfortunatley there are very cruel people in this world and sometimes, they happen to live close to us.
it's not asenseless thing to be mad about. a life is a life, all are of value. D=o you have turtle crossing signs? we have them here.
i'll be across the bay of fun next week.....
I wish it were possible to shelter our babies from the ugly things in life... and I wish there were less ugle things for them to have to learn about too. Hope C is taking it ok.
The turtle sign idea sounds good.
Here in FL, some imbecile on a motorcycle tried to run over an alligator on purpose. As of yesterday, they were trying to reattach his leg.
-J.
Oh my goodness! Poor Cass! What a terrible lesson and how sad sad sad.
People are so awful.
On that same note, someone knocked a beautiful bird's nest off our urban apartment's downspout yesterday. Who would do that? There were chicks inside. It broke our hearts.
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