#the wildlife rehaber was my coworker and she had franklin in an outdoor encloser with the other turtle

[quiveringdeer]

Bertholdt has a pet box turtle named Berturtle. 🐢

So what had happened was.... tw for turtle car injury 😣 But they survive!!

It's fall, so many colorful leaves littering the ground. He really needs to find the time to rake the yard. Or at least get them off the driveway. Thing about box turtles is, the patterns on their shell make them amazing at camaflouge. And unfortunately Bertie second guesses himself a moment too late before he realizes that particular bright yellow smattering of color was not just fallen leaves. 😣

Luckily the driver's tire barely made any contact with the lil fella. But in a rush to close up in it's shell to avoid injury, it's back left leg didn't make it inside in time and the pressure from the tire bump caused some lacerations.

Bertholdt is rattled! He's never hit an animals before. He's such a careful driver. Any one of his peers would vouch for that! He dashes out of his car after reversing a few feet and scoops up the poor baby, tucking it against his tummy as he tries to figure out what the hell to do.

He can't just leave it out here after maiming it! Luckily there is a small box in his trunk where he keeps some extra waterbottles, protein bars and a first aid kit neatly tucked away for emergencies. Hastily, he dumps the contents of the box to scatter haphazardly in his trunk before tenderly tucking the turtle in his new makeshift emergency turtle transport container. Within minutes he's backing out of the driveway and zooming his way to the nearest vet. Is the vet where you take wild animals who are injured?? He has no idea but his brain is on autopilot.

Also, by zooming I mean he dares to go five over the speedlimit. The turtle is bleeding afterall and he has no idea if he's caused a more serious internal injury for the poor creature.

The front desk attendant greets a very flustered Bertie who is a mess of worry as he tries to describe the situation. They do their best to reassure him that they can fit in time to have the doc look the turtle over and gesture for him to sit and wait.

His shoulders sag wearily as both his legs bounce with anxious energy. His mind racing with all the whatifs of how this disaster could've been avoided. There was so much he wanted to accomplish in life and how could he do that if he was burdened with the title of turtle murderer? And what about the turtle? What aspirations and dreams had he now cut short because of his own shortsightedness? And here he was selfishly hung up on his own future troubles as if he hadn't just ruined the life of this innocent creature. Did it have a family? Did turtles maintain family units? What would a group of turtles be called? Where they close by? Had they seen their lovedone nearly crushed beneath the tire of his car? Had he inadvertently traumatized a whole gaggle of turtles? The antagonist of their story as knowledge of this tragedy is passed to future generations? Bertholdt Hoover, the turtle slayer. What would be the best way to make amends? Give offering to the turtle colony that potentially will be suffering a significant loss due to his gross negligence?

"Mr. Hoover?"

Bertholdt's body shoots up from the waiting room chair, startling the sweet lady and toy poodle to his right. He breathes a sincere apology for his swiftness before he follows the front desk attendant to a back exam room.

Longer story short, the vet puts Bert in contact with a local wildlife rehaber. The rehaber takes in the turtle and cares for it for a few weeks, monitoring it's wound ability to care for itself. The wound doesn't become infected and while it hinders the turtle's speed and agility, nothing else seems to be inhibiting the animal. Since it was a wild turtle, they can't legally release it into his care, even though it can't be released back into the wild. However, the rehab center does have space in their educational exhibit to let the turtle cohabitate with another unreleasable turtle friend.

While Bertholdt doesn't keep the box turtle at home, he visits and volunteers now at the rehab center often. Gabby is the one who christened the turtle Berturtle, when the rehaber gave him the opportunity to name the lil guy. She is very proud of the name.