09/06/2025
DUE TO GROSS GRAPHIC PICTURES VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!!!
So this happened last night. I was called by Officer D**e of the Oxford police department at 10pm regarding a hit by car, a very large snapping turtle, in the middle of the road on the bridge in front of the Nardellis on 67. When I came upon the scene the picture to the left is what I found. Rant started-how could someone have not seen him?!?! It is a decent lit area with a traffic light and he is the size of a small boulder weighing in at 33lbs. I’m not sure what sick ticket got joy out of this(there are studies out there) or someone on their cellphone perhaps could NOT have missed him. He’s HUGE!!! Rant over. Back to the story. I contacted Jess Moffo(Awesome ACO for Woodbridge Animal Control) who kindly answered her phone that late to see if she had any contacts for a turtle rehabilitation center and like always she came through. Angelina from Turtle Haven answered my call as well. 10:30pm Humpty and I were on our way to Northford for some live saving treatment. The picture on the right is us putting him back together again. He received a real good would(s) flushing, SQ fluids, pain medication and A LOT of TLC from the rehabber. I was just there to hold the pieces together til another rehabber got there. She drove all the way from Weathersfield for him arriving at 12:30am to relieve me from my duties. I got back into town around 1am. Was bit of a restless night worrying about him. Finally morning came(an hour ago)and I reached out to Angelina. Unfortunately she stated all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty back together again. I’m absolutely heartbroken 💔 over this. This is their world and we just live in it!!!! I end this post with a plea to be very careful and slow down in that area. A lot of wildlife live under and around the bridge due to the water source and vegetation. I have picked up a couple of hit by car beavers there in the past as well.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who took part in getting him to what I call Turtle Haven Hospice. You are as they say the unsung heroes. ❤️🐢🐢❤️
I also want to say thank you to Officer Gugliotti for keeping us all safe while cars try to whiz by during this rescue. Hey maybe if drivers can’t see us they can’t see the turtle 🤷🏻♀️
