By Maggie Beamguard
In this big, wide world, creatures great and small sometimes need someone willing to stick their necks out for them. Nature might not always be kind, but people can choose to be.
When a Seven Lakes slider turtle slipped into a foundation well of a house, it very well could have spent its last days trapped in a shell it could not escape. It was the turtle’s lucky day when homeowner Sarah Casey decided to do a little weeding. She spotted the little fellow in the midst of her chores.
“When I reached in to pick it up, it was shockingly light,” she wrote on the community Facebook page in a post titled “A Feel Good, True Story.”
She described the turtle as having the weight of an empty styrofoam cup. Needing to leave for an appointment, Casey left the creature with her daughter, Elisabeth, age 17.
The Casey family is no stranger to the animal kingdom. They have two dogs, a Labrador retriever popularly known as “Doc, the Worstest Lab of Lake Sequoia” and a springer spaniel named Sunny as well as three cats. A friendly black snake nicknamed “Mr. Scales” also makes frequent, surprise appearances on their property.
They have had previous encounters with injured animals. When they wanted to help a lizard on its last legs, they did some online research and discovered the North Carolina Zoo’s Valerie H. Schindeler Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Asheboro. According to the zoo’s website, the center provides “free, professional veterinary and rehabilitation services to sick, injured and/or orphaned native North Carolina animals for the sole purpose of returning them to the wild in a condition that will optimize their chances of survival after release.”
They called on the off chance that the lizard could be helped. The zoo welcomed the animal.
So with a deteriorating turtle on her hands, Elisabeth made a call to the center again. When they said they could not take it for 24 hours, Elisabeth seized the moment and her mother’s computer.
Casey got a confusing message from a friend: “the kiddie pool is in your garage.” Through a bemusing text exchange, Casey learned her daughter had used her open Facebook account to post a plea to the Seven Lakes North and South Community for a kiddie pool.
By the time Casey got home Elisabeth had received at least seven pool offers.
The zoo still could not accept the turtle on day two of its rescue. But it appeared to be doing a little better after its soak.
“We took [it] to the lake to let it go but instantly realized it couldn’t sink …at all,” reported Casey. “Try as it might, the best it could do is with great effort get its head and front rim of its shell under the water.”
More online research suggested that it may have air stuck in its shell. They gently held it under water and rolled the turtle sideways and forward. Then Elisabeth held it vertically and tapped its chest.
“As funny as it sounds, I believe she did actually ‘burp’ the turtle as air bubbles came out multiple times,” wrote Casey.
The turtle floated a little lower, but too high to be in the lake where it might encounter a boat. Back to the pool the turtle went for another overnight stay.
“Our daughter spent hours getting it to eat and cleaning its shell and rolling air bubbles out of it,” said Casey.
After returning from a trip to the gym on the third day, they didn’t see it floating among the plants Elisabeth added to the pool. “We happily found it hadn’t escaped…it was at the bottom of the pond —sunk! So we just took it to the lake, placed it in and it sunk to the sand completely submerged.”
The turtle stayed there for a couple of minutes – just looking at them, one wonders if in appreciation. Then it took off swimming. In the eternal words of the Ninja Turtles, “Cowabunga, dude!”
Casey shared the tale on social media to give people a reason to smile and to “brighten everyone’s day.” She likes sharing lighthearted, feel-good stories and thinks other people appreciate them too.
“In a hectic world with a lot of division there is still room for kindness towards each other and towards animals,” she said “We can be stewards of nature and stewards of each other. We need to pause and not let the noise in the world distract us from really simple, kind acts.”
She is proud of her daughter for the way she took initiative and cared for the animal. “She has an unbelievably kind heart, not just for people but for animals. She helps animals, but she helps people all the time to – unsolicited. Oftentimes she puts herself aside to help other people, and I love that about her. I really love that about her.”
Casey is also proud of the community which proves time and again it is willing to give the shirts – or is it shells – off their backs when someone asks for help.
“Outside of all the noise that goes on sometimes, there is a strong underlying tone of kindness in our community. I’ve seen it over and over and I hope it never goes away,” she said.
“I still see neighbors helping neighbors and people being outward going. It makes me feel good. It made me feel good that we could help the turtle. It made me feel good that the turtle is fine. It really made me feel good that my daughter went out and asked for help when I wasn’t home for something very insignificant. Over seven people, people who don’t even know us – wanted to help. As small as that is, I just think that is really kind. I just love that about this neighborhood.”
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
