The Rough Life of a Turtle

Great save! Makes you wonder if fishing line is the cause of her missing feet as well.

Good save, Josh.

Yeah, I was thinking I only saw nubs in the two face shots, but the piece of bark in that first pic threw me off, too, lol. Just goes to show how resilient these animals are... To lose both front feet and still manage to thrive as a wild turtle. Awesome post. Thank you for sharing, Josh.

This should be posted in all fishing forums as a reminder to why it is important to pick up your line if it breaks, or if you change it out...

Originally Posted by Outcast

This should be posted in all fishing forums as a reminder to why it is important to pick up your line if it breaks, or if you change it out...

I get so mad, every time Mick and I go fishing we find line, hooks, weights all left in tangles. Of course you can always have a big fish break your line in an accident, but most of the time how we find it it's obvious it's been dumped and left behind by people who just don't care how dangerous it is for wildlife

Originally Posted by diamondlil

I get so mad, every time Mick and I go fishing we find line, hooks, weights all left in tangles. Of course you can always have a big fish break your line in an accident, but most of the time how we find it it's obvious it's been dumped and left behind by people who just don't care how dangerous it is for wildlife

It is one of the reasons that it is getting harder and harder to go fishing around here, other than being in a desert. No one wants someones lines or beer cans left on their property down by the river.

Thank you, Josh!!!!!

I once found a duckling caught in some fishing line. It actually had a fish hook in it too. I managed to free it and luckily the rest of the duck family was still around and the little guy took off like a bullet towards them.

That's such a cute turtle, thanks for untangling it.

Ouch! Turtles are true survivors and I admire them for that.

A few years ago I was herping in Northern California and I saw this Fence Lizard that was running kind of funny. It turns out that both its back feet had been burned off in a fire, though it seemed to be carrying out its life as "normal" as possible.

I had two of my box turtles maimed by a neighbor's dog years ago. I use to keep them in an outside enclosure in my backyard during the summer. The fencing was buried 3ft deep to keep the turtles from digging out and it was 5ft above ground with netting on top to keep everything else out. Obviously this was not enough for a determined dog. He jumped the fence and then chewed a hole in the netting. Once he caught each turtle he chewed their legs off. Luckily he only caught two. When I found them each was missing two legs. One lost both on the right side of her body. The other lost alternating front and back. After cleaning lots of maggots out of the wounds, trimming bone and ragged skin, I was able to suture what was left and administer antibiotics. It was touch and go for about a month but they made a full recovery. And seemed no worse for the wear. I made rollers that I epoxied to their plastron so they could get around easier. They are tough little creatures!

I'm glad you found her and helped Josh. That's no way to go through life. I bet she would say thanks if she could.

Terri