…not to mention frogs.

Who can stay inside when an unexpectedly sunny day dawns on a weekend when the forecast was for rain? Even with a gusty wind blowing, a chance to take a bike ride on this last weekend of October was too good to pass over. And I’m glad to have gone, because the ride resulted in the rescue of endangered critters on my favorite road.

The snapping turtle in the photo below had obviously just emerged from a wetland on one side of the road—her back was wet and muddy—and she was determined to cross over to the other side. But with traffic increasing as noon approached, the turtle was in danger of being crushed by a passing vehicle. Using the instructions wildlife rehabber Kathy Michell passed on (see “Help Turtles Cross Roads“), it was easy to lift this dinner plate-sized snapper and safely carry her to the side of the road.

I took a couple photos of the snapper while she regained her composure, then left her to get on with business. But then, not 10 yards down the road, a pair of frogs had paused in their journey across the barren wasteland of pavement. In the cool temperatures, they needed some encouragement to get out of harm’s way. Here they are in a safe spot:

One is in the upper left corner of the photo, and the other in the lower right. Sure did feel good to do a good deed for these late-season creatures.

Just another pretty face

Tags: frogs, turtles

 
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.”

Tags: rescue, turtles

Cycling is far better than cocooning yourself in a car if what you want is to enjoy the countryside. You see more animals and details of the landscape, hear more birds and other natural songs like the wind in the trees and chortling brooks, and you smell more of the sweet greenery and fragrant flowers. The downside is that you also see more dead animals. Motor vehicles take a terrible toll.

There’s hardly a minute’s passage at bike speed between one dead animal and the next. It seems animals are sometimes killed deliberately, too. What else explains squashed turtles on the very edge of a four-foot wide shoulder? Drunks and distracted drivers drive blind. I see an alarming number of these two species of motorist.

For many drivers, a phone call, the dog, the kids, tuning the stereo, or preening all seem more important than driving. They might as well be sitting in the easy chair at home in front of a video game for all the importance they place on moving their tons of metal at high speeds from one destination to another. There’s another vehicle of destruction on the roads, too — irresponsible young drivers. Far too many of them are let loose on the public thoroughfares to roar at breakneck speed, going nowhere. Where are their parents? Adult or teenager, whatever the excuse, the result or carelessness behind the wheel is a significant death-toll among the innocents who live adjacent to the roads.

As I ride my bike around the local roads, I keep my eyes peeled for living animals who are alongside or on the road, and do what I safely can to escort them to a safe place. It’s always satisfying to give them a new lease on life. Some might wonder why I bother. After all, what difference does it make if this turtle or that garter snake is killed? The answer, for me, is simple: It matters to that animal.

All these pictures of turtles are portraits of those who lived longer because of a safe rescue on northern New York roads. This is only a small selection of individuals, for this has been a life-long devotion to save animals from a terrible and needless death. Sometimes I’ve been alone, sometimes Farwell was with me. And I know there are others who do what they can, too. The snapper to the left below was yesterday’s rescue, but she and the others here represent the rest. And whenever I look at the beautiful eyes and marvel at the design of the turtle body, I feel great.

Today another turtle made it. A female painted turtle tried to cross a busy highway, and drivers were especially frenzied. Maybe the gusty, erratic wind is to blame, or perhaps the hot weather, the first warm stretch of the summer. No matter. The turtle needed to get across the road, from swamp to upland, where she’d lay her eggs. She had little choice in her nesting area, and the road was in the way, a wide gaping canyon of hot asphalt. For a six-inch long turtle, it’s quite a crossing, with sight lines measured in a few feet from only a couple inches off the surface. She was courageous and determined, and she set out when traffic stopped blowing her with its slipstream.

That’s when I came along, on the side of the road where she was heading. I parked my bike off the shoulder and relied on a bright jersey to warn any motorists who appeared that someone was in the road. By now she was well across, and no sooner did she reach the white fog line than she stopped for a rest. Ungood. Traffic was picking up again after the unusual lull. I walked toward her, and that was enough. She scooted toward the hillside grass. I prodded her tail to help motivate her, and she reached safety quickly. I wished her luck and set out myself, glad I went riding on this day, at that particular time. Any day a turtle is saved is a great day.

Tags: cycling, turtles