Rescued Female Eastern Box Turtle
An alert motorist, the National Marine Life Center and Turtle Journal teamed to rescue an Eastern box turtle, turned road warrior, in Wareham, Massachusetts. This gorgeous mature female somehow found herself in the middle of the busiest and most dangerous highway intersection in the area.
Busy Cranberry Highway Intersection in Wareham, MA
Our turtle-in-distress was snatched from near certain death. The rescuing motorist spotted her in the middle of the road, stopped his car, and dodged speeding traffic to snatch her up before she was crushed.
Female Eastern Box Turtle Road Warrior
Close to the ground and painted in woodland camouflage colors, she looks like a leafy branch blown across the road; that is, if she’s seen at all by distracted drivers. Luckily, in this case, our motorist recognized her as a turtle. After rescuing her from the highway, he brought this Eastern box turtle to the nearby National Marine Life Center in Buzzards Bay.Â
Rescued Female Eastern Box Turtle
In turn, the National Marine Life Center called Turtle Journal and we picked her up this afternoon. While we almost always return a specimen to the place where it was found, this Eastern box turtle called for a different approach. The front of her carapace shows the sign of a previous encounter with a vehicle. Her shell had been broken and had healed in the distant past. Because the location where she was discovered today could be lethal, we plan to hold her until early October. We’ll release her into a safe, known Eastern box turtle habitat just as she prepares to enter winter brumation. When she awakens next spring, our hope is that she will have reset her geographic range … and she will avoid the new reality craze she appears to have invented: Dancing with Autos.