Tucker is a turtle -- an Eastern Box Turtle, to be specific, and specifics are crucial when it comes to rescuing turtles.
Tucker ordinarily lives in Kentucky, but a passing Minnesota trucker, seeing that his shell was cracked, picked up Tucker, intending to get him some medical attention once they got to Minnesota. It turns out that the crack is an old fracture long since healed.
Tucker is fine, except for being 750 miles from home, which is, specifically, a matter of life and death.
"Turtles move so slow, they don't get very far, so their habitat is a very small area," said Carrie Libera of the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley, which is trying to find someone who's Kentucky-bound and willing to let the nearly 7-inch-long Tucker hitch a ride.
Even picking up a turtle on Hwy. 169 and slipping it into a pond by your house can harm it, she said.
"We always say, if you see a turtle trying to cross the road, just turn it around so it faces the grass."
Reptiles aren't allowed on planes because of disease concerns, so a driver is being sought to take Tucker to the Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvington, Ky., north of Nashville near the Indiana border. They'll release the brilliantly marked turtle where he belongs, said Libera, who confessed to being the one who named him. "You know -- Kentucky, trucker, Tucker."
Anyone who can provide a ride may call the Humane Society's wildlife department at 763-489-2223.
