{"id":9326,"date":"2011-06-08T17:32:07","date_gmt":"2011-06-08T22:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9326"},"modified":"2011-06-08T18:03:11","modified_gmt":"2011-06-08T23:03:11","slug":"case-of-the-snapping-gardener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9326","title":{"rendered":"Case of the Snapping Gardener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"case<\/a><\/p>\n

Sultry Snapper “Going My Way, Big Boy?”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It was a warm and humid day at Turtle Journal headquarters as my partner and I worked the nesting squad.\u00c2\u00a0 The call came in from the Wellfleet beat.\u00c2\u00a0 “Is this the Turtle Guy?” croaked the husky voice at the other end of the universe.\u00c2\u00a0 I acknowledged the caller had the right number.\u00c2\u00a0 “Well, we have a sticky situation here and we need your help.”<\/p>\n

\"case<\/a><\/p>\n

Do You Call This a Turtle Garden?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A dark and sultry stranger had slipped into Paul Pilcher’s garden off Chequessett Neck.\u00c2\u00a0 “She’s 14 inches long and 8 inches wide,” claimed Lisa Benson who had been shown the glamorous invader that had taken possession of a corner of Paul’s garden and hadn’t budged in more than 24 hours.\u00c2\u00a0 “We called the local authorities to find out what to do, yet once they found out it wasn’t a terrapin, they lost interest.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s in trouble, Don.\u00c2\u00a0 What can we do?”<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Case of the Snapping Gardener<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Turtle Journal sleuths interrogated witnesses, analyzed clues and solved the case.\u00c2\u00a0 “Give the lady a drink!\u00c2\u00a0 Hydrate that gorgeous female snapper who’s been trapped in your garden, and move her tomorrow back to the nearest wetlands.\u00c2\u00a0 Gently coax the gray lady into a large bucket with a shovel, but stay clear of her business end.\u00c2\u00a0 She may appear lethargic, but she’ll still snap your fingers off.”\u00c2\u00a0 Paul Pilcher and Dan Lawson under Lisa Benson’s guidance moved the turtle to the back of a pickup for the short ride home.<\/p>\n

\"case<\/a><\/p>\n

Happy Endings!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Without so much as a by-your-leave or thank-you, the sultry lady slipped through the grass and returned safe and sound to her wetlands home.<\/p>\n

\"case<\/a><\/p>\n

Take a Bow Paul Pilcher for<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Saving the World, One Turtle at a Time<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(All photos courtesy of Lisa Benson.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sultry Snapper “Going My Way, Big Boy?” It was a warm and humid day at Turtle Journal headquarters as my partner and I worked the nesting squad.\u00c2\u00a0 The call came in from the Wellfleet beat.\u00c2\u00a0 “Is this the Turtle Guy?” croaked the husky voice at the other end of the universe.\u00c2\u00a0 I acknowledged the caller […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9326"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9341,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326\/revisions\/9341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}