I'm used to the occasional question from people wanting to know why I'm the Turtle Lady, and asking questions about the turtles; that's been happening for years.
Then last fall, I had 3 very distinctive yellow & black “turtle lady” signs put on my very blue pick-up truck. I've had people knock on my window at the WaWa, come up to me at the post office or grocery store, and even yell to me from the car next to me at a red light.
So I thought maybe a little background on the Turtle Lady might be in order for those of you who didn't read Cathi Laughlin's article about me on Patch back in January.
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Late one June evening back in 2000, I was sitting on my swing next to the creek, watching the water and the fish, when I saw the biggest turtle I had ever seen in my life! I knew there where turtles, but had no idea that monsters like this were in there. I saw the same turtle every night for about a week. I tried to convince people that I had seen this beast, but no one believed me. They said I was just nutty from sitting out in the marsh late at night. While that may be true, I really had seen the turtle, and decided to prove it.
The next night, at low tide, I waited in the creek for the turtle to return. I had a dog cage, a flashlight, my camera, half a chicken ... and a big stick. Before long, I saw the turtle heading toward me. It was headed right for the cage, and the chicken. After a bit of negotiating between the turtle and the stick, she was in the cage.
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I took bunches of pictures, and then opened the cage for her to leave. To my chagrin, she wouldn't go! By this time, the tide had turned and the water was getting deeper. For those of you who have seen the tide turn in the Pompeston, you'll know why we sometimes call it the “Creek of Fundy” for the speed with which the water comes rushing in. There I was, in the middle of the creek, in the middle of the night, yelling at this turtle to get out of the cage before we both drown. She finally turns around, and lunges out of the cage. I thought she was going to eat me! I knew nothing of turtles back then, and didn't realize she just wanted to get away. After what seemed an eternity, I managed to scramble up the muddy bank, and she swam away.
The reptile curator at the zoo said she looked like she probably weighed between 80 and 100 pounds, making her about 80 to 100 years old! And that's when I started watching the turtles in the creek.
I started reading everything I could find about turtles, and found out that no one has done any detailed studies of snapping turtles, so I decided that I would. For the past 10 years, I've been observing the turtle populations in the Pompeston and surrounding streams, and recording what I've seen.
The "Turtle Lady" moniker came from a little girl in my neighborhood. She was so excited about a turtle laying eggs in her yard that when she came to get me, she couldn't remember my name, and just kept yelling "Turtle Lady! Turtle Lady!" and it stuck!
While I'm still officially "Ms. P" or "Mrs. Pierson" to the kids at school, I get called Turtle Lady by all of them when school's not in session. (My husband calls me "TL" but I don't think that will catch on - my own kids call me "turtle whacko," and I wouldn't be surprised if that did catch on!)