TLF After-Action Report (6/4)

[Kensey]

Last Friday on my drive home, I was coming down Chestnut Hill and say a "rock" in the road with an inquisitive head poking out. I didn't have enough reaction time to go around him (he was just over the crest of a hill), so I centered the car over him, turned around, and came back. Fortunately he was fine, and I parked my car with the flashers on and jumped out to grab him. (Little guy tried to get away!) I plopped him down in the grass well off the road -- he'd made it across the center line by himself before I got there but still had most of the other lane to go. Right after I set him down, 3 cars came by in the lane I'd just picked him up from...

Watch out for our hard-shelled friends -- I've started seeing them since the last couple of good rains we've had.

[chipgallo]

I recently (may have been the same day you took action) saw somebody make a quick u-turn to help a turkle on Rt 9 near BRE. It is noble but risky. Sometimes the chelonian simply turns around and starts back across the road in the opposite direction.

Parking well off the road and proceeding with caution are well considered in this situation.

[Starbuck]

I saw a turtle attempting to cross Shenandoah River drive a couple of Saturdays ago. I turned around and helped him across the road. I saw one attempting to cross Rt 9 a couple of weeks ago, but as it was rush hour traffic, I thought better of it.

[Pat_13]

I've seen five in my yard in the last few weeks...one was saved from the road and placed back in the woods.

[chipgallo]

That's encouraging. Where I live in BRA, we have gone several reasons without seeing more than a few turtles. When we moved here in the 1990's, there would be 5x as many.

[LazerFlash]

My wife & I have saved a fair number of box turtles since moving to this area. Only once have we had any kind of close call, even though the rescues seem to happen most frequently on roads like Mission, Huyette, Summit Point and Leetown. To try and prevent the "turn-around" that Chip mentioned, I try and get them as far off the road as possible. Many times, just placing them on the other side of a fence or the rise at the top of the culvert is enough to deter a round-trip.

[Wormdoc]

This season I'm 2 for 3. One I thought was alive at the side of route 9, but when I stopped and went to get him, I saw that he was squished....Did manage to nab two, though. One was smack dab in the center of Mission..he's in my back property area now. Other was a snapper turtle on Chestnut Hill. I rolled him into the greenery where he was headed and left him upright and turned away from the road...hopefully he didn't up and turn around.