“I was absolutely astonished.”
While traveling down a Florida roadway last week, Lori Hall-Allen got the shock of a lifetime. In an instant — and with a jarring crash — something had smashed through the vehicle’s windshield.
“I thought somebody shot at us, so it was very scary at first,” Hall-Allen later said. “But when I opened my eyes …” The turtle, a yellow slider, had evidently been crossing the road when he got clipped by the tire of a vehicle in front of Hall-Allen, which then rocketed him towards her car.
Incredibly, despite the collision at that high rate of speed, the turtle was virtually unscathed. After the crash, he simply peeked out from his shell, appearing rather puzzled how he’d ended up where he had. Wildlife rehabber Linda Christian rushed to the scene to assist, and was as shocked by how things had turned out.
“The turtle was perfectly fine. No damage at all to his shell,” Christian said. “I was absolutely astonished.” After bringing the turtle to her rehab facility, Christian held him for observation and gave him antibiotics. Her takeaway? “It was like nothing had happened to him,” Christian said.
When it was certain the turtle was fit for release, Christian let him go near a lake not far from where he’d been heading before the accident. He was eager to go. From the circumstances of the turtle’s collision to the miraculousness of his survival, it’s a case that Christian won’t soon forget.
“Never, ever in all my years in rehab have I encountered anything of that caliber, ever,” she said. “It’s that unusual.”