Turtle Surprise

Turtle surprise, in a snap
Katie Ryan, The Jamestown Sun
Published Friday, September 07, 2007


The Jamestown Sun
Betty Kratzke was seeing green Thursday.

The day started ordinarily enough.




John M. Steiner / The Sun A baby snapping turtle, about two inches in diameter, emerges from a hole in the ground Thursday at Betty Kratzke’s residence in Jamestown.
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Kratzke’s brother, Ron Berg, and brother-in-law, Darrell Perry, were going to Kratzke’s house to help install a new front door. By the time Perry arrived, Berg was already there, holding a baby snapping turtle in his hands.
About an hour later, 44 turtles were transported with a cardboard box from Kratzke’s yard at 1021 13th Street S.E. to the James River, about a block away.

“It was the greatest experience in a long time, you know,” Perry said. “Golly.”

more:

http://www.jamestownsun.com/articles/index.cfm?id=54017§ion=homepage&freebie_check&CFID=52389349&CFTOKEN=60605168&jsessionid=883076237cd1456f5358



Some of 44 newly hatched snapping turtles crawl over one another in a box. They emerged from a hole in the ground Thursday at Betty Kratzke’s residence in southeast Jamestown. The turtles were released on the bank of the James River later in the day.

I wonder how many of them would have made it to the river (1 block) without some help.

Way to go, Ron Berg and Darrell Perry!

:yourock:

Nice, decent people did a nice, decent thing for those little turtles.

and the new ones make a mad dash for the water, and even then, a lot of them don't make it. WHAT WAS THIS MOTHER TURTLE THINKING? I wonder why she laid her eggs so far from the river...

Nice outcome, though!

:)

Growing up in rural PA, I know of baby snappers
that folks found in lakes, and huge adults that
folks came across in the woods, MILES from the
nearest creek.

Those snappers are VERSATILE; they seem to be able
to live lots of places, wet or dry.

My dad is an OTR trucker; he once stopped and picked up
a 5-inch specimen that was trying to cross an interstate HW atop
a WV mountain, but was blocked by a concrete divider.
That was a VERY long way from water, to be certain!

Dad got a cat-carrier and made the turtle his driving-buddy
for about a year. He named it "Booger the Lettuce-Eater" and
took it along in the truck on every run.

Then, one day, he stopped opposite the spot he had first
spotted Booger, and turned him loose. He said that he had
gotten to understand Booger's subtle moods from spending so
many hours alone with him, and Booger had given him a look
that said he was ready to move on.

Sorry, I've gone way off-topic haven't I?
My bad.

go turtles go!

Kudos for helping the baby turtles!

what beautiful pictures. I'm glad they were found by people who'd help them out.