A turtle weighing a whopping 70 pounds was found wandering streets near a Southern California country club, officials said Sunday.
Sheriff’s deputies found the common snapping turtle Thursday on the corner of Angeles Crest Highway and Starlight Crest Drive near the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club (map), where it had apparently stopped to rest several feet from a pond.
It was taken to Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Phelan.
“The turtle appears healthy – maybe too healthy, quite obese, and it’s probably eaten everything that’s been in the pond with it,” said Joel Almquist of Forever Wild.
The turtle’s appetite can be a danger, as common snapping turtles are known to eat anything and everything in sight.
“They’re very detrimental to the native wildlife here,” Almquist said. “They eat everything that they can fit in their mouths, and apparently by the size of this one, it has.”
“If he grabbed onto a finger, you would be one digit less,” he added.
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It is unclear where the turtle came from, since it is not native to the area. Almquist said it may be someone’s lost pet.
Forever Wild will likely build a special pond where the hulking turtle will be housed, Almquist said.