Frozen solid, abused turtle comes to life
Medical staff at The Pennsylvania SPCA's Shelter Hospital were sure the red-eared slider turtle brought in last week, still frozen in a container, was dead.
Medical staff at The Pennsylvania SPCA's Shelter Hospital were sure the red-eared slider turtle brought in last week, still frozen in a container, was dead.
"When we looked at her there were no signs of life," said Alicia Royer, nursing supervisor. But turtles can go into a state similar to hibernation when their heartbeat can drop to one or two beats a minute, she said. Not wanting to give up, they contacted a reptile expert at the University Of Pennsylvania veterinary hospital, who suggested warmth therapy.
They placed it on a heating pad under a warming lamp and towels, waited, and kept checking.
After two hours Royer picked up the reptile to remove ice from its foot, and she thought it moved.
Reflex? Royer touched it's other leg. The turtle flinched.
Then one eye blinked.
"She's alive, she's alive," Royer yelled to the staff.
"We were all super-excited," she said.
An anonymous call alerted the PSPCA's Humane Law Enforcement officers to the turtle's plight.
They discovered the reptile partially submerged in ice in a container on the porch of a rowhome in the 900 block of East Schiller Street in the city's Tioga section.
The turtle's owners surrendered it to the officers. The PSPCA is investigating to see if criminal charges are warranted, said spokesperson Gillian Kocher.
The red-eared slider, the most common pet turtle, is native to the South and Mexico. It is considered an invasive species that competes with native species.
Evidently this was not the first time the turtle had suffered. It was missing toes, some of the tissue on its limbs had died off and the shell was badly damaged, Kocher said.
The staff named it turtle Two-toed Tommy, a name more befitting to an organized-crime figure more than a limping testudine.
But that was before they discovered he was a she.
Now named Elsa, the damage to her toes and shell hasn't stopped her from moving around.
The shelter estimates the turtle to be between five and 10 years old; red-eared sliders can live up to 30 years.
Elsa still needs surgery to seal the broken shell, which will be done at Penn, Kocher said.
For now she is getting round the clock attention, antibiotics, pain medications and a diet of dried shrimp, turtle food, dried cranberries, meal worms and a special protein gel, said Royer.
To contribute to Elsa's care visit:
610-313-8111
@MariSchaefer
