So, what sad and weird irony or coincidence, Karen Anderson, Dean Maddy, Kevin Smith and Bruce Gaye. Today, I went out for a bike ride and, as I rode south into a tree covered area where the road runs over a creek, I pulled over to the side of the road in the shade and was trying to decide whether I wanted to turn around or continue on in the direction I was travelling. I was watching a young man walking on the other side of the road and I was deciding I wanted to head north, so I was still watching the young man as I turned the bike in a u-turn. The front tire hit what sounded like a rock. I pulled the bike back and looked down to see a turtle about 3 inches in diameter. His limbs and head were all tucked in but he had a significant crack on the front part of his shell. I picked him up to see how bad it was and discovered that the crack involved damage to soft tissue, although I couldnt tell what the soft tissue was. I didnt know if his head had been damaged or what and, surprise(!), I burst into tears and start apologizing profusely to this poor little creature as thoughts of the gopher turtle in FL careen through my mind. As she always does when I am out in the middle of nowhere with dead or dying wildlife, my wildlife angel appeared (this is a real person-different women every time-who show up whenever Im in wild animal crisis; its really weird) and attempted to calm me down and make me feel better. We laid the turtle down close to the creek as we could in a very shaded area of undergrowth. He was moving his front paws feebly now and then and I was calling emergency vet clinics and wildlife refuges and anybody I knew who had a turtle to get advice as to what to do. I was being told by everyone that if the shell is significantly damaged, all they can do is euthanasia. So, Im thinking that it is very cruel to just leave him there to die but, why traumatize him further, transporting him around, just to have him euthanized in the end, anyway? I felt that he was not doing well at all and would probably not survive long. All told, I spent about 90 minutes just and praying and watching over this turtle and agonizing over what to do or not do for him. Finally, I headed home with the idea that I would let Bob decide, since I couldnt transport him on my bike anyway. When I got home, I explained the whole thing to Bob, in tears (of course) all the while. I dont say much about my husband on FB but he is a truly angelic, wonderful man and today he reminded me why I married him-both times. He listened and then he said, I dont think you did that damage to the turtle. I think he was probably already injured when you found him because you couldnt possibly have cracked his shell the way youre describing. I asked him tearfully, what would you have done if you had been with me? and he said, Exactly what you did, Chrys, I would have found him a shady place next to the creek and left him. I hugged him hard and as he hugged me back, he was crying with me. Im still sad about the poor turtle, but Bob has allowed me to be at peace with my decision and even taken away some of my guilt over injuring him. Thats a good husband! Its also exactly the way my Dad wouldve handled it.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:32:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015