Road Kill

Last week I took a drive into town on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. It was 80 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. What a perfect day to be alive! I started following a red car down this long straight-away when I noticed it swerve a bit and something bounced out from underneath the car. Much to my dismay I noticed that this person had run over a giant Snapping Turtle nearly the size of a spare tire. Because I was trailing the car I too came upon the turtle and saw him writhing in pain with his long neck stuck out in a contorted way and his shell completely ripped off his torso. I was in shock but also in a fit of rage. I chased after this car so I could look inside to see what stupid actually looks like. I'm thinking to myself this has to be some young punk kid out for a thrill. The red car was hard to catch as it was going 80 MPH or better. I finally caught up to them after a stop light and pulled right up next to them and discovered it was a middle-aged woman and her son. I yelled out the window, "Do you realize you just ran over and killed a giant Snapping Turtle?" She replied, "I didn't see it!" It was at that point I knew what stupid looks like and my anger kicked in and I let her know there is no excuse to run over a giant Snapping Turtle (size of a spare tire) in broad daylight. She quickly rolled up her window and drove away in horror ... or at least I hope she did. There are so many people who go out of their way to run over defenseless turtles, snakes, rabbits, porcupines, and for the life of me I can't understand why. The only excuse I can think of for her was that she was texting at 75 MPH and actually didn't see the turtle. I couldn't get this horrific scene out of my head! I hope this lady feels miserable for what she did ... I do! This turtle has been crossing this road for years and is, was, probably 50-60 years old. The next time you see a turtle on the road, please take the time to put him/her in the ditch in the direction they were going.