Turtle Trifecta Day

What do a musk turtle, a spiny softshell turtle, and a western painted turtle have in common? All three were helped out on the same day thanks to a caring family calling a rehabber.

On a lovely late summer day, I received a call from the mom in a family that had gone for a hike in a nature preserve not too far from my house. They found a turtle on its back next to a river, and thinking it was dead, the kids wanted to give it a proper burial. They come to discover it was still alive, and that’s when the mom jumped into action and tried to get help. She googled and identified the turtle as a spiny softshell turtle, and then found out who to call to get it some help.

I have to admit that I was skeptical at first that the turtle was the species she said it was, because I’m used to finders not correctly identifying the species they’ve found (which is totally okay; I’m like that with pretty much all non-turtle animals). Additionally, spiny softshell turtles are not native to Connecticut, and unlike other non-native species such as red-eared sliders, they’re not commonly found here either. She sent me a picture, and I’ll be darned if that wasn’t a spiny softshell. They’re native to the midwest from Nebraska to the very western edge of New York & Pennsylvania, and up into southern Canada. In some parts of their range they’re considered endangered, but outside that range, they’re introduced. They aren’t classified as invasive (yet) in Connecticut, but given that they’re not native, I wouldn’t be able to release it. I decided to worry about what to do with the softshell turtle later, when and if it recovered. In the meantime, a turtle needed my help.

I decided to meet the family at the trailhead to collect the turtle, and through conversations with them over the phone and once I got there, I learned that they were all very caring and loved animals. The kids wanted to bury animals they found dead, even just insects. They had found injured birds before and called rehabbers for them. They also really had a soft spot for turtles. Why, just the other day, they found a musk turtle on this same reserve, crossing a trail with abandoned railroad tracks and “rescued” it by taking it home…*sigh*

To their credit, the mom and dad of this family tried to do their research and learned that musk turtles are not on the list of threatened/endangered species that you’re not allowed to have as pets in CT, so they thought it would be okay to take it home and keep it. The problem, though, with the way the laws are presented on our state’s website is that some “common” species are technically legal to own (in that they aren’t specifically named as illegal to own), but you still aren’t allowed to take them out of the wild. If you want to own an eastern painted, musk, or snapping turtle in CT, you have to have certified documentation proving that they are captive-bred from a reputable breeder. It doesn’t clearly state this, however, anywhere on there. I had questions about this same issue some years ago and had to talk to like three different people from the DEEP before I got a straight answer, and not even everyone who works for the state seems to know this. Kind of makes it hard to expect people to follow the laws if they’re not written and presented clearly and concisely.

Also, musk turtles are small and cute, and they thought it was lost because it wasn’t in water. It was likely just moving from one of the many bodies of water on this preserve to another in search of food or mates. They didn’t know this, though, and they took it home. Also to the family’s credit, they took good care of it for the short time they had it. Many of the accidental kidnapping cases I deal with have people who are just as earnest and with just as good of intentions as this family, but they don’t do their research and they don’t have the right setup or the right food for it and it’s quite sick by the time it gets to me.

I talked to the kids and the parents and it was decided that we would all release the musk turtle together here at the preserve, because this is its home and it would be happier here. While waiting for the mom to come back with the musk turtle, I examined the softshell turtle and found no external injuries, but it did have a little head tilt and was less energetic than it should have been. It was a juvenile by the size of it (they get freaking huge like a snapping turtle and this one the kids could pick up). Given where and how it was found, I can only guess how it got there is that a bird of prey picked it up from the river but dropped it (either on purpose to kill it or by accident) and didn’t go back for it for some reason. It wasn’t found anywhere near a road, and it being on its back is odd for any turtle, hit by a vehicle or not. It could have been hit by a boat, but there were no external injuries, even superficial ones, and every car or boat hit I’ve seen on a turtle has left an external mark. It’s a mystery that will never be solved. Regardless, this little guy/girl had signs of head trauma, and deserved a chance to heal. The kids kept asking the parents if they could adopt the soft-shell turtle too if it healed, but knowing that it would need a full pond one day, they understandably wouldn’t commit.

Once we were all together with the musk turtle, we walked a short distance to a nice pond on the preserve very close to the trail it was found on and in the general direction it was headed, and the family bade it a tearful goodbye. The kids had gotten attached to the little guy in the short time they had him, and they were sad to see him go but knew this was where he belonged. While we were walking back to the parking area, the family was already discussing what they’d do with his tank, and if they could adopt a different turtle. I chimed in that if they were serious about giving another turtle a home instead of the musk turtle, I was fostering one that would be the perfect fit for their family.

You see, I had a painted turtle in my care that was surrendered by the family of a person who got very sick and couldn’t take care of their pets anymore. The family, with permission of the owner, tried to bring the turtle to a pet rescue, but were turned away because it was a painted turtle, and belonged in the wild or with a rehabber. So they brought it to me. So far, so good. But when it arrived, I discovered that the rescue they brought it to was only half right. The turtle was a painted turtle, but it was a western painted turtle, which is not native to our part of the country, and actually perfectly legal to keep as a pet. The ones we have around here that you’re not allowed to have are eastern painted turtles. Rather than continue to prolong the family’s efforts to find the turtle help by sending them back to a pet rescue who’d already turned them away (it, too, had gotten sick while its owner was in an extended hospital stay and needed medical attention), I decided to take it in and help it get better, and then, hopefully, find it a home. This western painted turtle had finished its course of medication and recovered months prior and was just waiting for the right family to come along and adopt it. He was a male painted turtle and wouldn’t get much bigger than the musk turtle they just released, and as long as they cleaned it first, they could use all the equipment they already had. Did they want to meet him?

So, the family followed me back to chateau du turtle, and while I got the softshell treated and into a hospital tank, they hung out with the painted turtle and discussed adopting him. The decision was unanimous; he would go home with them.

I never did have to figure out what to do with a spiny softshell that couldn’t be released, because I woke up the next day and it had passed on. With the head injury it had, I wasn’t surprised, but at least it went in less pain and fear than being stuck on its back cooking in the sun. They don’t all make it, but it’s always worth it to try.

A few days later I got the update that Kappa, which is the western painted turtle’s new name, was loving his new home, especially the supervised walks outside in the sunshine. I’m so happy that Kappa found the perfect forever home, that a wild turtle was returned to the wild, and that an injured turtle was helped. Serendipitous days like this one don’t come along very often, so we have to appreciate them.