Turtles flying through windshields and surviving the impact? It’s a Florida thing
Mother Nature apparently makes turtles (and, in at least one case, other creatures) rather hardy in Florida.
On Friday afternoon, a turtle came smashing through the windshield of a car driving on Florida’s Turnpike at mile marker 76 in northern St. Lucie County.
According to the St. Lucie County Fire District, which took a call after 5 p.m. July 30th, a semi truck heading south nicked the turtle and sent it soaring through another car’s windshield. The turtle clipped a rearview mirror and landed in the seating compartment of the car, where it came to rest.
The driver and turtle were both unharmed. Shaken, of course. A photo on Facebook shows a firefighter cradling the turtle, which, rescuers say, was released safely.
Other turtle meets windshield incidents
In April, a mother and her daughter were driving north near Port Orange, Florida, when a turtle, similarly trying to make its way through traffic, came crashing through their car. That turtle hit the mother who was not seriously injured, according to Fox 35 in Orlando. The turtle emerged unscathed, as well, save scratches to its shell and it was released into a nearby woodsy area.
In May 2016, a turtle torpedoed through a woman’s windshield on Interstate 4 in Deltona. Both turtle and the startled driver were OK in that incident, too.
An owl, too
As for other lucky creatures — depending on how one defines lucky — in April, a great horned owl was hit by a pick-up truck and got itself wedged into the front grille. The owl survived that ordeal and was treated by the Conservancy Center of Southwest Florida in Naples.
