Some things just get to me.
There are so many animals killed each year based upon only thing, the ignorance of man. If you've seen some of my posts, you know that I really enjoy the creatures of this world and seem to find a lot of them in the wild. Many that I have shared about happen to be snakes and turtles.
HANDLING WILD ANIMALS
I am comfortable handling and interacting with these creatures, even to the point that I'll grab a 50# snapping turtle by the throat. My purpose in this is not to harm the creature, but just to safely control it if I need to move or relocate one.
Many creatures that I have relocated would have otherwise been killed if I had not been there. Here is a video where I got a call from my neighbors about a rattlesnake. A few years ago, before I moved into the are, this snake would have been a goner.
I like being able to step in during situations like that and not only keep them safe from a creature that they fear, but also to keep the creature safe from the people who fear it.
AN UNFORTUNATE DEATH
A few months ago, I returned to Wisconsin with my family and spent some time enjoying some of the areas that I frequented up there. One such place was an area where I used to find a lot of turtles, snakes, frogs, toads, and salamanders. I took my oldest son, Monster Truck the Pepper, along for the adventure.
We like enjoying time like this together, and were off for a real adventure. I'm trying to edit some video so that I can share more about with you soon, but for now I'll just share the unfortunate thing that we found.
POOR SNAPPER
What we found was the shell of a snapping turtle. To have just a shell left, the turtle had to die.
While this turtle could have died naturally, the majority of dead snapping turtles that I find in the wild appear to have been killed my humans. It is most unfortunate, but this is not uncommon. Much like with snakes, many people lack an understanding about these wild creatures, which too often leads to an unrealistic fear of them.
Isn't it interesting that when some people fear that an animal may be dangerous or capable of hurting someone, they hurt or kill it instead?
BAD SITUATION - BUT A NEAT SHELL
In typical @papa-pepper style, I used this situation as an educational and instructional opportunity with my boy. I can't imagine him ever finding one of these incredible creatures in the wild and choosing to bash its head in, but I might as well make sure he knows full well that I believe such activity is wrong.
I took the shell home to let it dry, and soon the scutes fell off leaving behind the incredibly created bone structure beneath. With some clearcoat and careful handling, shells like these can be preserved and last for years to come. It'll be a chance for me to show others what lies beneath the surface of the Snapping Turtle's shell without having to dissect one.
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-shell
Until next time…
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I never knew that tortoise grew such long nails
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The Common Snapping Turtles can grow claws that almost look like bear claws sometimes! I've gotten many a nasty wound from them in my time.
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They R precious creatures @pap-pepper
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Yes they are. Thanks!
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watch those choppers. enjoy ur safari.
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Oh yeah, I sure will!
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Nice post! What will happening, if someone resteem your post?
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No more spam please - looking at your responses - I would say that you well know what happens when someone resteems a post.
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Man, more help once again! What will happen, if someone upvotes your comment?
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A grateful wave of emotion shall pass over the poster, a commentary victory has been achieved!
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That is so sad, surely a turtle cannot harm anyone! We occasionally find snakes in our garden but fortunately they're mostly harmless grass snakes. I'm still terrified of them but they must be even more alarmed by us humans :)
We once had a leguaan inside our home (we live near a river) & hubby went to great trouble to capture it & took it back to the river. Used to have a couple around our pool area, was so funny watching them chase the poor blue-headed lizzards. Sadly it's more built-up now so we no longer have them wandering into our garden ;)
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Wow, that must have been so cool to see those big lizards wander in and walk around the pool!
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this strong animal is a friend, though he is a little slow.
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You are braver than I am papa. My brother has a big pond on his property and when we find snapper on or near the road we use a shovel to move him to safety.
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Shovels can be helpful, just don't grab them by the tail or you could sterilize them.
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No problem there. I've seen what snappers are capable of first hand and I'm not touching any part of them.
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LOL! Yeah, they can be fun!
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this good, what's a friend's pet.
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Lovely post! Unfortunately, because of their ignorance, people kill not only wild animals but also domestic animals. For fear that a dog can bite, a person simply kills a dog. It's so much easier than trying to make contact with an animal or just to understand it (((
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So sad.
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This post is an eye-opener...
Thanks for sharing this
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also blame those Hollywood films profit from selling fears of animals like sharks and bring misfortune to those innocent creatures... oh, sometimes even selling loves for animals bring misfortune too! like what Nemo did to tropical fishes... ><
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Good point! Snakes on a plane, anaconda, arachnophobia. All those movies do a great job making money off of fear, and making more fear!
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That is really disturbing... :((
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Posting yang sangat bagus.. Luar biasa.. Lanjutkan berbagi cerita tentang binatang.
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@papa-pepper that is true, human being does not that because of their ignorance. Some wild animals had gone into extinction because of this. Thanks pointing light to this.
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I know you are merciful to living beings. You are doing a task that can open the eyes of the world about what we should do to the lives of other beings. Always provide a very useful lesson for all of us. I took an example from you. Thank you very much for opening my eyes @papa-pepper.
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nice work done by you man,,, super post with huge information shared with us,, thanks for that,, keep it up friend........
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“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi - thank you
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I enjoy watching your love and care for these beautiful creatures. I will never understand why people have to be cruel to any animal and it's very sad.
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Hi there @papa-pepper, I kind of know how you feel, in my father's province, bodies of water are abundant specially the sea, there are so many sea creatures that you can interact with like dolphins, sea turtles and the occasional whale shark also known as butanding in our native dialect, and we sometimes see how bad human acts kill these poor animals, like dynamite fishing, or cyanide fishing, sometimes we spot turtle or dolphin corpse being washed ashore, it's really annoying that people would rather destroy the ecosystem for self-gain rather than co-exist with it. I most certainly love your advocacy and concern for the animals, we may be different in terrains(you're on land while we're mostly on seas) but we share the same sentiments nonetheless. Thanks for sharing!
@jamesanity06
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Glad to hear you care about animals so much, unfortunately trillions are killed every year for no good reason except as you said.. Ignorance. Hopefully we don't wipe ourselves out, but at this rate.. We're extincting lots of species and projected to extinct fish by 2050 which will extinct us as well. Good luck humanity, if you kill the animals too much you kill yourself.
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Right on cool find tho.
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Killing another creature that isn't a direct threat to life or property, or isn't going to become food, is a sad waste.
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I agree. I am not against living in ways more like the Native Americans once did where although an animal may be killed, it is killed with respect and every part that can be used is used. But to kill just to kill, bad stuff.
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Lol
@proof of shell...
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Thank You @papa-pepper, this is really a good thing to relocate all those animals as far as possible from the human. I do the same here in Thailand catch the snake around my place or the village and relocate them in the wild. Most people are uneducated about snakes and all kinds of wildlife animals. Many snakes get killed because of the so-called venom but they don't understand that snake are mostly doing a dry bite just to get peoples away from them, they need their venom to hunt, they also don't understand that snake will run away as soon as it spot human. Education is the key word here and your videos are really helping at put the knowledge out. Thanks for all.
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Thanks for that. I try.
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Such a shame an animal has to die all because of a humans ignorance. I prefer animals to most humans.
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Plz Save wild animals ❤
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That's what I like to do!
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That's why now i followed u.
I ❤ wild animals
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Very nice post! Upped!
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Congratulations @papa-pepper! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
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@papa-pepper next time I encounter an unknown wild thang ...I'll send out for you lol. Best wishes always :)
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You just let me know, and I'll be there, to keep you both safe! LOL!
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Omg why people are so cruel to animals... Poor turtle 😢😢😢
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I don't know, but it comes down to a choice. The less people who choose to behave in such ways the better.
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really nice post
i love seeing wild creatures too just that my i dont get to see them here unless i visit a zoo.
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should people spare snakes
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That vast majority of ones that people kill aren't even venomous, and many provide useful "services" like eating rats and venomous snakes.
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a snake almost killed my younger brother
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As a zookeeper we deal with this all too often. It’s heartbreaking but the wild is becoming less safe for animals, sometimes I feel as though I am fighting a losing battle. This is why I have begun my blog to try and educate people on the plight of animals. Thankyou for sharing your story and helping us fight to keep the wild safe. I have followed you to see more :)
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I can't imagine how much you've seen, as I see so much myself. Unfortunately it seems that in this "information age" where all of the information in the world can be available at your fingertips in just moments, people are actually more ignorant and uneducated than ever.
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I couldn't agree with you more. The amount of people that I speak to that are shocked that they are looking after their animals wrong for example a person was happily discussing with me how she feeds her dog chocolate and that "well hes not dead so its obviously fine its a complete myth" I was dumbfounded and no matter what I told her she refused to accept how dangerous it is. Sadly we get a lot of members of the public offering their animals to us when they realised they can't fulfil their needs and just expect us to have the room, then if we take them we end up losing them after a short while because the help has come too late for them. Perhaps you and I and some others on here that I follow will make a difference to animals and their welfare through our posts- I can only hope.
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Oh the poor creature...such a sad story. It's really horrible what some people can do.
However, I think it's wonderful that you could turn this sad moment into an educational experience for your son.
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Yeah, I try not to let anything go to waste. If there is at least a lesson in it, I'll try to make sure to teach it and educate my little ones.
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Especially out in the woods homesteading.You can't kill everything you don't understand. Although....ever type of wasp....i could always kill those.
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I hope he died of natural causes.
On the bright side, you had the opportunity to educate your son.
Plus you will look like a bad-ass eating your Frosted Flakes out of a snapping turtle shell
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Can you see me? Seriously, how did you know that?
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We actually have a turtle crossing area on our main highway into town.We have stopped numerous times to help a turtle make it to the other side safely. We have also encountered many wild animals, opossums, raccoons, snakes, rabbits and turtles lying in the centre of the road squashed by a deliberate swerve to kill the animal. I have seen it happen and it just makes my blood boil. Here there are laws in place to protect animals but no-one seems to enforce them...sigh
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Hey @papa-pepper I know They R precious creatures 😋
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I admire what you're doing. I hope I have a simple life like yours.
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