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Some drivers go out of their way to hit turtles
A Clemson University student found that 1 in 50 drivers intentionally hit box turtles, a species that's in decline.
Fri, Jan 04 2013 at 1:45 PM
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Photo: Kerry Wixted/flickr
When Clemson University senior Nathan Weaver first placed a rubber box turtle in the middle of a road, he was simply researching ways to help real turtles safely cross the street. But he witnessed something chilling he hadn’t expected: Several drivers went out of their way to run over the turtle.
The first time he conducted his experiment, Weaver put the realistic-looking turtle in the middle lane of a road near a college apartment complex in Clemson, S.C. Then he watched for an hour as 267 vehicles passed by and seven drivers intentionally ran over the turtle. Several more tried to hit the rubber animal but missed.
"It was a bit surprising. I've heard of people and from friends who knew people that ran over turtles. But to see it out here like this was a bit shocking," Weaver told the Associated Press.
Although Weaver was shocked to see such behavior, research shows that drivers intentionally running over the reptiles is not uncommon.
Box turtle populations are in slow decline, and one of the main reasons is the riskiness of crossing streets, which can take turtles several dangerous minutes. A 2002 study of the impact of road density and traffic volume on turtle populations found that roadkill alone contributed enough mortality to reduce the size of a local turtle population.
What makes the problem even worse is that turtles reproduce slowly. It takes seven or eight years for a turtle to reach sexual maturity, and during that time, a turtle likely makes several trips across streets in search of food or nesting areas.
A 50-year-old turtle might lay more than 100 eggs over its lifetime, but statistically only two or three of those hatchlings will survive long enough to reproduce, according to Rob Baldwin, a professor at Clemson's School of Agricultural, Forest and Environmental Sciences.
Curious if other drivers were just as likely to run over his rubber turtles as those near campus, Weaver chose a residential street next to duplicate his experiment. He placed a turtle in the middle lane of the road and waited.
The second car that appeared swerved over the center line of the road and ran over the turtle, destroying its plastic shell. For the rest of the hour, no other cars hit the fake animal, but just as Weaver went to retrieve it, another car pulled to the right to hit the turtle.
"One hit in 50 cars is pretty significant when you consider it might take a turtle 10 minutes to cross the road," Weaver said.
Why would someone go out of the way to run over a defenseless animal?
Hal Herzog, author of a book about our relationships with animals called "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat,” says it can be about asserting dominance over another species. But sometimes it’s just about having fun.
"They aren't thinking, really. It is not something people think about. It just seems fun at the time. It is the dark side of human nature," Herzog told the Associated Press.
To illustrate his point, Herzog, a Western Carolina University psychology professor, asked one of his classes if they’d ever intentionally run over a turtle or been in the car with someone who did. Of the 110 students, 34 raised their hands and two-thirds of them were male.
What do if you find an injured turtle in the road
If you can safely retrieve the animal, do so. Place the turtle in a box and keep it in a dark, quiet area indoors.
If there’s debris on the turtle, you can wipe it off with damp gauze, but do not rinse the animal with running water or immerse it in water. If there’s a limb injury, pack a piece of gauze over the limb and wrap gauze around it to hold it in place.
It’s best to let a veterinarian or wildlife rehabilitation expert evaluate the turtle before it eats, so don’t offer the animal any food. You can locate a wildlife rehabilitator or vet that treats wildlife here.
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Incidentally the cousin to the turtle, the American Alligator is considered a highly dangerous animal to cross the path of a human. Perhaps these turtle roadkill enthusiasts would enjoy a nice vacation near the Everglades, and we'll see how karma plays out. }:)
The study would have been better if the researcher used a variety of fake animals. I think the reason for the behavior is that ignorant people think that a turtle's shell will probably protect it from the crushing force...
I love turtles, but I hate people who hurt animals . Gods' eyes are looking throuhg those animals ' eyes. So you may laugh now, but karma catches up to fools , then they pay. You reap what you sow, if you do good, good things happen for you, if you do bad, bad things will happen to you. Your choice
Makes me sick too... but consider... how were these kids raised that they think it's "fun" or "cool" to kill an innocent living creature? I have three grown sons and they know better! We need to raise our sons better in this country.
Why would you want to ruin a tire?
At least the Turtles don't run into or under your car on purpose the way that I am convinced the Squirrels in our neighborhood do!
So do Squirrels suicide by car?
Just curious
In the mountains in Colorado it's chipmunks. I swear they sit by the side of the road, wait for a passing car, and dart out in front of it just to see if they can make it. Most do, some don't.
Turtles are the sweetest animals in the world (maybe except snapping ones)....People who would harm any defenseless animal are just a few steps away from serial killers. Seriously, that is how serial killers and other sociopaths start out.
I always try and stop my car (safely out of other traffic) and transport turtles in the road to a safer place where they will not get run over. People would expect nothing less for a dog or cat - why not the same empathy for turtles?
I can tell you from my own experience that I have run over a turtle when I was really trying to miss it. Most people have no concept of where their tires actually hit the road. I think this study is a bit misleading, and most of those people were actually trying to miss the turtle but ended up hitting it.
Sorry, this doesn't sound like someone attempting to miss the turtle: "The second car that appeared swerved over the center line of the road and ran over the turtle" Sounds like this POS was making a deliberate maneuver to hit it.
I love turtes!! I once stopped and picked a big snapping turtle up (Would not advise this unless you know how to properly handle them. I'm a good ole country girl) and put him on the side of the road so he didn't get hit.
I am an animal lover and would NEVER run over a defenseless thing such as a turtle and I am proud of the fact that in swerving to miss turtles who are crossing the road, I have killed only 3 human beings...
That is mean. What is wrong with people?
That is horrible! That just made me sick to my stomach to the point I am on the verge of throwing up the prune and pea oatmeal I just had for breakfast.
This just ruined my day. We should ban cars!
and what walk to work everyday? and go grocery shopping on foot? ..your cool.
By your logic we should ban knives as well.
Actually we should just ban people and be done with it.