Fell down a crack, retrieval took hours
SANDFIELD—While a snapping turtle was rescued by members of the Friends of Manitoulin Turtles recently, a group of young girls who spotted the turtle stuck between two rocks and unable to get itself out are being praised for finding the stranded turtle and doing what they could to help.
“It was three young girls and their two friends, who were playing in their backyard, who spotted the common snapping turtle first,” stated Amelia Wood, a member of the Friends of group. “It is remarkable that they were there at the right time. We are just glad everything worked out.”
Kait Watson-Smith told The Expositor, “our three daughters, Maeve, Lennon and Joni, were out playing in the bush in our backyard with their friends Cora and Lauer. They were jumping back and forth between the rocks, when they looked down the crack in the rock and saw the turtle.”
“They told us (Kait and her husband Jordan),” said Ms. Watson-Smith. “We certainly weren’t expecting to find a snapping turtle. We went out to the site where the girls found it and tried on our own to get it out but couldn’t budge it. So, we called Sudbury’s Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre (TPWC).”
TPWC posted on their Facebook page a couple of days later, “Stuck between a rock and a… rock! This weekend, we received a call regarding a snapping turtle that was very stuck in between two rocks on Manitoulin Island. Because we are a small centre with limited staff and resources, we asked the callers to get in touch with the wonderful folks at Friends of Manitoulin Turtles. And boy did they respond!”
“This big turtle was returned home thanks to a fantastic group of individuals who worked together to get him free! So many great people are around looking after these ancient creatures,” TPWC reported.
“We called the Friends of Manitoulin Turtles on Sunday morning (July 20),” said Ms. Watson-Smith. “They sent two people, who arrived on Sunday morning at 9:30 am. They had to work for over an hour to get the turtle out.”
Ms. Wood said, “Sunday morning we received a message that the property owners had been working until dark trying to get the turtle out. They had called the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources). The MNR told them us to call Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre, and they in turn said to call the Friends of Manitoulin Turtles.”
Ms. Wood noted one of the other members of the Friends of group lives in close proximity to her. “I got in touch with him and provided him the information and he contacted Turtle Protection in Toronto, and Ontario Turtle Conservation in Peterborough to get advice. We grabbed supplies and got to the site. It took about 45 minutes from the time we got there to get the turtle out.”
Another Friends of member, David Shilman, helped to get an inflated pipe, used as a sling under the turtle, “which was on her side,” said Ms. Wood. “Her instinct is to go forward. Using cattle canes, we were able to get the turtle facing upwards. We put the inflated pipe under her and, using canes and a hoe with a glove over the blade, were able to get her out,” she said, noting the homeowners were helping and providing the tools as the process was carried out.
The stranded turtle was a little over five feet down, in the area between the rocks. “She had a couple of minor abrasions on her top shell, and a couple on the bottom shell, both pretty minor,” explained Ms. Wood. “The Conservation Centre had told us what to look for, and (the turtle) was acting normally. We put her on the ground, and she turned north to the closest body of water. She was heavy, she was crawling out of the box we were carrying her in. Then we put her down closer to the water body.”
Ms. Wood estimated the turtle would between 30-60 years old. “Hopefully she has more success crossing the same terrain next year or the year after.”
