02-04-2021, 07:10 PM
Today, my wife raced back to our house from a walk exclaiming that a turtle was trapped about 8 feet off the shore of one of the local ponds about a quarter mile from our place, stuck somehow and barely above the surface. We quickly put on some boots, grabbed some scissors and a rake—like some kind of professional turtle rescuers—and drove over to the pond. Immediately saw this poor critter was being pulled down by something. I waded out and saw that he/she was obviously exhausted, and offered no resistance. Gently lifted the turtle out of the water and saw that it was wrapped up in yards of monofilament fishing line, hooks, sinkers, and a few long waterlogged sticks, all weighing this poor creature down.
What a mess, all wrapped around the turtle's neck and feet. The clippers worked great, and cleared it in a couple minutes. She still had some around the feet because it was doing its turtle thing all pulled in, but there were clearly no hooks or bleeding. So after a bit, I placed the turtle back in the shallows and waited until it had enough energy to start to move again, and to make sure that all 4 limbs were clear. It swam off and we watched it for a few minutes more to see it resurface a few times, swimming back to us to check us out, and then a few other turtles from around the pond came up to the rescued turtle and all stared back at us. A great moment.
NOTE: monofilament fishing line takes approximately 600 years—no joke, look it up—to decompose. If you or the kids fish, please teach them to always go to great lengths to recover any lost line; otherwise it will remain a trap for important critters for centuries to come.
What a mess, all wrapped around the turtle's neck and feet. The clippers worked great, and cleared it in a couple minutes. She still had some around the feet because it was doing its turtle thing all pulled in, but there were clearly no hooks or bleeding. So after a bit, I placed the turtle back in the shallows and waited until it had enough energy to start to move again, and to make sure that all 4 limbs were clear. It swam off and we watched it for a few minutes more to see it resurface a few times, swimming back to us to check us out, and then a few other turtles from around the pond came up to the rescued turtle and all stared back at us. A great moment.
NOTE: monofilament fishing line takes approximately 600 years—no joke, look it up—to decompose. If you or the kids fish, please teach them to always go to great lengths to recover any lost line; otherwise it will remain a trap for important critters for centuries to come.