Clemson student's turtle project takes dark twist

Herald on line ^ | December 27, 2012 | Jeffrey Collins

[ZULU]

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University student Nathan Weaver just wanted to put together a project to help figure out the best way to assist turtles in crossing the road. But he also ended up with a peek into the dark souls of some human beings.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/12/27/4507782/clemson-students-turtle-project.html#storylink=cpy

[BudgieRamone]

Kansas snappers can be every bit of 20+ lbs and 18 inch wide shells. I know I moved one out of an intersection in my folks neighborhood with a scoop shovel. It was in the middle of the intersection turning itself to watch cars go by and there were quite a few motorists trying to get it to crawl away which it had no intention of doing. I tell you this thing was a monster and didnt appreciate my efforts to move it with the shovel.

[dennisw]

I feel I am accumulating good luck or good karma doing it ....so I will always help the turtle across the road. Some tribes called it Turtle Island, where we live

[Fzob]

It’s pretty weird that some people feel the need to run over small animals.

My rule is pretty simply. Any animal other than a squirrel I will try to avoid hitting them. I will not put my self in danger trying to avoid them.

Squirrels on the other hand do not get the courtesy of me trying to avoid them. I will not try to run them over, but will not try to avoid them either.

The reason being I once tried to avoid a squirrel and wound up rolling a pick up truck. Yes, all squirrels must pay for the mistake of one squirrel.

[Graybeard58]

How can someone run over a raccoon or opossum in a 25 or 30 mile speed zone? I can understand on a major highway but in residential communities there is no excuse for not steering around it.

There's a large park across the street from my house, many oak trees and many squirrels, they frequently cross the street to my yard because I have two walnut trees. I don't care, they can have all the walnuts they want but I've observed them many times, dart out into the street, regardless of whether a car is coming or not and stop dead in their tracks in the path of an oncoming vehicle, vehicle swerves to avoid them but at the same time said squirrel decides to move on, resulting frequently in a smashed squirrel.

It happened to me with a cat, I swerved to avoid him and instead ran over him, it wasn't intentional, animals are unpredictable is all.

[blueunicorn6]

Yep, there are people who needlessly take life. There are probably way more who run over animals because they are inconvenient, they slow them down and make them late and make them use more gas. It’s sort of like the difference between the nut job in Connecticut and people who are for abortion.

[dennisw]

How about you put an IED in the turtle so when a driver steers to squash him he gets a wheel blown off.

[aomagrat]

Squirrels on the other hand do not get the courtesy of me trying to avoid them. I will not try to run them over, but will not try to avoid them either. The reason being I once tried to avoid a squirrel and wound up rolling a pick up truck. Yes, all squirrels must pay for the mistake of one squirrel.

Were you in a Geico commercial?

[dennisw]

http://news.yahoo.com/college-students-turtle-project-takes-dark-twist-182457207.html

10000 comments at yahoo news for this story. Most I have ever seen

[ZULU]

Some people really ARE a one act show!

[ZULU]

I can’t believe you really believe that

[ZULU]

No. The barf alert should be for idiot responses like yours and the next one

[ridesthemiles]

Around here, if traffic is light enough, roadkill gets moved out of the roadway. Most residents here wear boots—not open toed shoes!

[muir_redwoods]

Not bad but I think the spike is simpler, cheaper and only the sociopath gets hurt

[ElkGroveDan]

Wouldn’t a hard shell animal damage the car/paint? Doesn’t make sense.

Good point. Believe it or not rabbit bones can pierce a car radiator if you hit one in a low car at high speed and it bounces. The odds go up if you hit 20 or 30 of them over the course of a long night's drive. It actually happened to me long ago. Fortunately it was a cool evening and I didn't even notice the damage until after I got home the next day.

[Fzob]

No, was there a Geico commercial about this?

[Hot Tabasco]

I ended up on some guy’s front lawn while swerving for a squirrel. Chased the damn thing across two more lawns before I finally got him........

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

If you don’t run over them the get into the sewers and mutate into teenage ninjas.

[longfellowsmuse]

hmmm..... are you really trying to say that perseverating over why people feel the need to squash turtles trumps defending the unborn?

if more people cared about human babies instead of reptiles perhaps our nation would be better off

I will use any opportunity to defend the defenseless. If that makes me “a one act show” than so be it.

[Hot Tabasco]

A bunch of years ago I stopped to help a 20 lb. snapper that was crossing a road. Just grabbed it by the tail and carried it over to the pond it was heading for.......

Since it was coming from a wooded area, I suspect it had just laid eggs and was heading back....