On Tuesday, August 18th I traveled down to Briery Creek Wildlife Management Area in Prince Edward County, VA. I was scheduled to do an evening Frogs Walk, for VA Cooperative Extension. It was a hot and humid evening as I motored down busy RT 15. As I approached the turn off, I notice a small, dark object in the middle of the road. I slowed down and knew right away it was a small turtle trying to cross the busy highway, but there was no shoulder to pull off, and I had several cars right behind me. So, I drove down the road, did a quick U-turn and drove back to where it was, hoping it wasn’t smashed in the road. Fortunately, I was able to rescue the little guy. I gently placed the little turtle on the floor of the passenger side. It was closed up tight in its shell, most likely scared of the entire ordeal. Since there didn’t seem to be any water nearby where I rescued it, my plan was to release it in Briery Creek Lake, which was only 5 minutes away.
I pulled up to the parking lot of the lake, got out of my vehicle and walked around to the passenger side door. When I opened the door to retrieve the little reptile, I couldn’t find it! Gone! My camera bag was also on the floor, so I thought it must have crawled under the bag, or even inside it. I pulled the bag out of the car and placed it on the ground and looked inside-nothing but my camera and accessories. At one point I thought the turtle got caught in the strap of the camera bag when I pulled it out, and it dropped to the ground. I looked all round the car and didn’t find it.
I went back to the car and began my exhaustive search for the “escaped” turtle. I looked under both front seats, but found nothing. I looked in the far back of the vehicle thinking that it somehow made it up and over. Nope! The saga of the missing turtle continued for another 20 minutes. I even tried to reach my hand up under the vent thinking it may have crawled up inside the small opening. Nothing. There was no turtle. Would this turn out to be a failed rescue? Worse yet, would I find the turtle days later by smelling a decomposing critter in my car? I was hoping not!
After completing the evening program about an 1½ hours later and saying goodbye to everyone, I decided to do one last search before driving the two hours back home. Again, my search efforts turned up nothing. I was sure it had slipped out of the car on to the grass and crawled away. I should have known better!
Fast forward to Saturday, August 22nd, four days later, and 80 miles from home in Appomattox County. I had finished participating in another program, an all-day event (10 hrs.) and was pretty worn out. About 45 minutes in, I realized I needed to stop for gas. After fueling up, I had some trash I needed to get rid of before getting on the road again-an empty lemonade bottle and an empty Doritos bag I had put on the floor of the passenger side. I grabbed the empty bottle, but when I reached down to grab the chip bag, it began to move on its own! Yes, move! Startled, but cautiously curious, I lifted up the Doritos bag and couldn’t believe what I was looking at-the missing turtle! It sat there calmly with its head out, just looking up at me. I couldn’t believe it! After four full days in a very hot vehicle, including the vehicle going into the dealership for routine service on Thursday, there was the little turtle sitting right on the passenger side floor, right where I had put it several days before. How did this happen? I’m not quite sure, but I concluded the little critter somehow was able to get up in the floor vent, hide for four days, then decide it was time to go. It looked a bit dazed (if turtles can look dazed), but relatively unharmed as best as I could determine. It may have survived on Dorito crumbs! The story has a happy ending.
A couple days earlier I had researched the turtle I rescued from the highway crossing and learned it was an Eastern Musk Turtle. I read it that it was mainly an aquatic turtle that inhabited swamps, lakes, ponds, streams and rivers with lots of aquatic vegetation. Interestingly, I never smelled any “musky odors” from the critter, even after handling it for a few minutes.
I knew I’d be crossing a small river that ran along the road I was traveling home on, in about 5 miles. This would be where I would release it. I found a wide spot to pull off, grabbed the little turtle (which I had put in a box this time) and stumbled down a steep bank to the river’s edge. There was a long, slow pool with a lot of algae-it looked like good Musk Turtle habitat. I snapped a quick photo, gently put it at the edge of the water, and within a minute, it quickly crawled out into deeper water. I said my goodbyes, wished it luck and hoped it would never try to cross another road. A true turtle’s tale of survival! Way to go little guy!
