Turtle Crushed By Bulldozer: 'We Need To Raise Awareness'

SHELTER ISLAND, NY — A turtle who was run over by a bulldozer on Shelter Island Saturday needed to be euthanized.

According to Karen Testa, executive director of Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons, a Shelter Island resident found the hibernating box turtle on land that was being cleared; the turtle had to be euthanized.

"If you don't think bulldozers kill, this poor turtle was awakened from his deep slumber to have a bulldozer crush him," Testa said. "We need to raise awareness."

The woman that found the turtle, who asked not to be identified, told Patch she'd found the turtle partially uprooted out of the ground, eyes closed.

"When I looked more closely I realized it was in hibernation mode," so she called Testa, she said. "She told me how to find another spot for it and to put it in the ground again so it could finish hibernating but when I picked it up its shell was damaged on the dome."

She brought the injured turtle to a wildlife coordinator, only to learn that it had to be euthanized.

Testa has asked if volunteers can visit the property to see if there are any other injured turtles needing assistance.

"Particularly because they are not awake, they can’t just walk away from bulldozers," the woman who found the turtle said.

She added: "That little creature now euthanized thought it would wake up after digging in for the winter in a spot it probably hibernated in for generations. It is breaking my heart."

Both said they hoped that in the future, wildlife specialists could be consulted before land clearing, so natural habitats and wildlife aren't disturbed.

"The most obvious answer is not to clear land at all," Testa said. "Habitat destruction is real and our wildlife pays the consequences."

Testa suggested creating a grid of the area and "scouting for box turtles ahead of the destruction — perhaps using fiberglass rods to poke into the soil an,d hopefully, tap a carapace, or top shell, to find these little elusive sleeping gems."

Volunteers recently saved turtles from a pond being dredged in East Hampton.