A Silver Turtle Relocated on the North Shore

Somewhere in a nearby North Shore pond swims a silver turtle. Maybe.

The huge snapper was as silver as the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz when Diane Treadwell got a call from the New England Aquarium last summer.

Diane volunteers for the aquarium. Her regular job is Swampscott's animal control officer.

It was a Sunday and Diane was called out of town for this rescue, a strange one born of a cruel amusement.

The big snapper was in a Revere yard, as shiny as a dime in the sun.

Someone had spray painted the turtle from head to tail, though, fortunately, he had no paint in his eyes or nostrils.

The turtle was a bit lethargic but still ornery and ready to snap as Diane wrested him from the ground.

She lugged him — estimated at 25-30 pounds — to her car and hauled him north to the Atlantic Veterinary Hospital.

"Nobody could believe how silver that turtle was," she said.

They consulted with Tufts University's Wildlife Department.

The consensus was to try mineral oil and another harmless solution on a small portion of his shell to see if it would remove the paint.

It didn't.

So they decided the best thing was to get him back in the water, and to let nature shed the paint over time rather than submit the turtle to harsh chemicals.

He was an old guy. He had to have been old to have gotten so big, as big as a garbage can lid.

The turtle looked like he had a bullet hole in the back of his shell, as well, though that was from a while back. 

He also looked like he had coating of red paint — like a primer — under the silver.

Diane brought him to a North Shore pond. She won't disclose which one.

She released him.

"He was so excited to be in the water," she said. "He did his bubbles and slowly submerged, the way they do."

Under the water he looked like a flying saucer.

She went back to check on him, once a week, for the next two months.

She never saw him again.

He might still be in the pond.

Or maybe he lit out for his old surroundings.

A big silver turtle crawling south.