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So This Happened

We try not to mess with nature or any of the wild critters that hang out in the neighborhood, but we do watch out for any that might get in trouble. Like this gopher tortoise:

The fence belongs to our back neighbor who just uses the property for grazing cows, so there was no one to free the little guy but us. We tried first to push him through, but he was wedged so tightly there was no doing that. Also, these tortoises have big claws, and he started thrashing the minute we touched him. So we got out the wire cutters:

As soon as he was free he shot off, and we didn't see any blood, so we're pretty sure he wasn't stuck for long and will be okay.

Here he is heading for his burrow:

Now that we know he's living in that corner we'll keep a closer eye on the fence.

Comments

Maria Zannini said…
He was very lucky. I don't think I've ever seen a tortoise by us. We do have lots of turtles though. We always stop and help them cross the road if we see them. It's too easy for them to get squashed by speedy cars.

You're going to have to name that tortoise now, you know that right? LOL.
nightsmusic said…
We had a fence like that in an area near the barn when I was a kid and we had horses. It's fairly easy to fix if you don't want to leave a gaping hole or mention it to your neighbor. Sort of like darning a sock ;) I'm so glad you found that guy though. Things could have ended so badly for him.

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