When driving and cycling the roads each year, I’m discouraged by all the dead animals I see, and I do whatever I can to prevent them from being killed by motor vehicles. Most of the time, this means saving snakes, frogs, or turtles. It’s easy to lift snakes with a stick or bike pump and carry them to safety. Frogs are more difficult, but generally I can corral them to the sidelines. In many ways, turtles are the easiest to move. They don’t move as quickly as frogs, and they’re not slithery like snakes. But that doesn’t mean you can just lift them any old way. Snapping turtles, in particular, require special care. Neither you nor the turtle will benefit if you’re bitten and the turtle is dropped to the ground.

To learn how to handle turtles and safely help them cross the road, read our new instructional page called, unsurprisingly, “Help Turtles Cross the Road.”