Turtle Release

Last Friday Graciela found a baby turtle under the house. She brought it in for Gwendolyn - a red-eared slider - and we were all enamored of it. Very small, very cute!

David went online trying to find out what turtles eat, how they should be kept, and so on. And in the process, found that roughly 90% of turtles carry salmonella. We explained to Gwendolyn that if we kept the turtle she would have to be really careful and always wash her hands with soap after handling it. She was actually pretty good about this - about half the time. The other half she would pick up the turtle, then bite her fingernails, eat a snack, or put her hands in Simon's mouth. This, coupled with our failure to find any food the turtle would eat, swayed us toward releasing him. So Sunday morning, we set off into the forests of Gamboa, to a lagoon we thought would be perfect turtle habitat.

Surprisingly, Gwendolyn did not object. So many of her storybooks are about children losing, then reuniting with their mothers, I think it was quite natural for her to think the turtle should be set free to find the other turtles.

A hot and sweaty hike later, here we are at the lagoon, turtle in hand. Release successful!