Theo van Daele wrote:

Yeah, I know K, just feel responsible for those animals (sounds stupid
probably) and feel a bit (well, a lot) guilty.

There are quite a few crows in the next door garden (they have very high
trees where they nest), so maybe that's what happened. Probably wondered
off again and then got caught... Still weird that the little fellow made it
back to the pond before giving in though.

The shell was only damaged in one spot (near the rear legs), almost a clean
"cut" across the shell. Wondering about it possibly being caused by a
mouse trap now as well.

Any dogs roaming the area? Dogs tend to think of turtles as play toys
and will pick them up and play with them. Mainly ends with the turtle
crunched.

Susan
shsimko at duke dot edu