[Cover photo by permission of Turtle Survival Alliance]
Why do members of the wild kingdom choose to find me? I can’t say. They’ve never hurt me or caused me trouble and I always enjoy seeing them, so I certainly won’t complain. It is true that compared to the average U.S. citizen, I seem to have had an inordinate amount of unusual wildlife encounters. Thanks to my childhood in the woods of North Carolina, and the way my dad was gifted in dealing with wild animals, I am comfortable with them and they do seem to respond to me fairly well. I’m not claiming to be Dr. Doolittle, and I’m definitely not one of the extreme animal handlers like you see on cable TV or late night talk shows. I’m just comfortable with them and they seem to be comfortable with me.
In our neighborhood in Jenks, we’ve had skunks, large owls, moles, armadillo, raccoons, opossum, snakes, fox, deer, coyote and wolves (yes I’m serious) show up. We are very close to the Arkansas River and Polecat creek, thus, critters find us because of the nearby water sources. So, it’s not a surprise to me when I hear excited calls from around the neighborhood about some new animal showing up.
I was in the garage one night and heard some noise down the street. One of the neighborhood kids came running by saying something about, “giant snapping turtle in the neighborhood!” There was enough hubbub coming from down the street that I knew it was going to be worth getting up to see what was happening.
I figured at the largest it would be this size. I was wrong.
[Photo by Vujicivana on Pixabay]
Just like in my last snake story, I figured it was probably just larger than they expected but nothing unusual. I got up and started out the garage to see what the commotion was about. To my surprise, a truly, unexpectedly large alligator snapping turtle was indeed in the middle of the street in our neighborhood. I’ve since looked up the size of an alligator snapping turtle on wiki. They give the normal range and acknowledge that there are well known outliers that have been measured beyond the normal size. This one was beyond the normal size.
As I came out of the garage at a jog, I was not concerned that an exceptionally large alligator snapping turtle was in our neighborhood. It was what I saw happening around it that alarmed me the most.
I believe the one we had in the neighborhood was slightly larger than the size of this one.
[Photo with permission of Turtle Survival Alliance]
A very intelligent, well-educated man from down the street was walking up to the front of the turtle’s shell and sticking his face close to it. If you know alligator snapping turtles at all, you know that is a horrible, terrible, never, never, no, no thing to do. I was starting to yell out angrily to stop when it shot its head out and snapped at him. In my mind, I was racing through options on what to do if the turtle latched onto his face. This is not a situation like a dog or wolf biting someone. In that scenario, you can usually distract them and get them off their attack. An alligator snapping turtle clamping down on a man’s face might kill him. They tend not to let go once they clamp down.
I was considering all options and weapons available to me nearby when, thankfully, the man fell backwards and the turtle missed him. I then ran forward to warn all kids and neighbors away. The man who got lucky realized his error and learned. Then someone brought me a shovel.
That’s Chris Drake (Expert Turtle Handler) in the photo.
[Photo by permission of Turtle Survival Alliance]
This turtle was too big for me to grab by the tail and pick up. The shovel was a good option. I got it under his belly and flipped him over. Terrified for his life, the giant turtle relieved himself in the street. If only we could talk to them and reassure them that no harm is coming to them. I try, but I know they don’t understand English.
A neighbor with an oversized – extra wide plastic barrel brought it by. We were able to leverage the overturned turtle into the barrel (barely) and then lifted it into his truck. He took it to a nearby access point on the river and released it back into the wild. The turtle serves his purpose down there, he was just way too big to be up near the kids in the neighborhood. I’ve attached several pictures of alligator snapping turtles for your viewing pleasure. If you see one of these stay clear. Leave them alone or leave them to a professional handler. They are not a pet.
[If you enjoyed this story – First, let me say THANK YOU – then, please hit one of the “share” buttons below to share this story on your social media and help me get the word out about my stories. Also, please signup for the free newsletter on the homepage or via the occasional popup invites.]
Why not try the next story? Tales from Oklahoma #4: Happy Wife-Happy Life
Feel free to browse and shop for outdoor themed shirts and mugs on my gifts page at Redbubble!