Monday, June 08, 2009

Beast in the Bushes



As I pulled in my driveway this morning I thought who put that rock in my yard? Upon closer inspection I discovered that rock was a huge turtle. I ran my groceries inside and when I came out it was gone. I poked around in my bushes and found it underneath the same bush our other wildlife visitor, the mallard duck had her nest. It must have been eating the abandon eggs because it stunk. I got some gloves and a crate and figured I could take it up to the pond. I reached in and grabbed the back of her shell near the tail when, SNAP! This was no big pond turtle this prehistoric looking beast was a snapping turtle. Thankfully, my neighbor Eric was home and came over to help. With a shovel and trash can lid as a shield he got it into a wheelbarrow. Wish I had taken a picture of that!

The kids & adults alike got a big kick out of the whole event. The turtle on the other hand was not happy. The beast was quite aggressive and continually rocked back on its hind legs and launched forward snapping at us, even snapped a stick in two.

But after a short wheelbarrow ride it was back where it belonged. Lets hope it didn't leave any eggs behind!

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