A routine drive turned into a life-saving mission for one Southwest Florida resident. Mia Lombardo made an unexpected stop on Interstate 75 to rescue a turtle in distress.
“I saw a turtle on the side of the road. And I’m like, okay, my luck. It’s probably already hit,” Lombardo said.
She noticed the turtle’s head move and realized it was still alive.
“I saw its little head move, and I was like, oh God,” Lombardo said. “Then I had to go over into the slow lane after traffic passed, which put me literally all the way back by the brush line up there.”
Even though she was exhausted from work and still in her scrubs and clogs, Lombardo rushed to help.
“After working all day, I literally was so tired,” she said. “I was scared of glass on the side of the road, so I just ran as fast as I could, out of breath. And I finally got to her.”
When she reached the turtle, she saw it had a puncture wound.
“Then I got to her, she had like, a little bit of blood exposed, and there was, like a puncture mark,” Lombardo said.
A week after the rescue, the turtle is recovering and receiving care at CROW. Kaitlyn Crocker, a veterinary intern, explained the turtle’s condition.
“With soft shell turtles, they can be a little bit more concerning when they have trauma, compared to other turtles, just because they don’t have that hard shell to protect them,” Crocker said.
Crocker described the recovery as remarkable.
“We didn’t see any abnormalities of her internal organs,” she said. “We also did some blood work to make sure that everything was still functioning normally internally, and she didn’t have too much blood loss.”
The turtle’s external wounds are healing well, and its outlook is positive.
“Overall, she got pretty lucky as it’s only the external wounds,” Crocker said. “So her prognosis is pretty good moving forward.”
The turtle is now swimming in a shallow-water setup to protect its bandage.
“The palm leaves are to kind of give her her natural environment where she would be hiding under her foliage,” Crocker said. “And then we still have her in shallow water right now, just because her bandage is on.”
The turtle has also become more active.
“Now she is getting spicier, trying to interact a bit more with her surroundings, and definitely a little bit more resistant to bandage changes,” Crocker said.
For Lombardo, hearing about the turtle’s progress feels rewarding.
“This is actually probably one of the first, like, success stories I’ve had,” she said. “A lot of times the damage is too far done, but seeing her literally bandaged up is so cute.”
The Florida softshell turtle, believed to have been hit by a car, is receiving thorough medical care. Its wounds are cleaned with Betadine and saline, treated with Silver Honey, and rebandaged regularly. X-rays showed no internal injuries, and bloodwork confirmed normal organ function.
The turtle’s recovery is expected to take several more weeks to a month, depending on how well the Honey Wax treatment works. Once fully healed, it will be released back to where it was found.
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