Veterinarian Reunites With Turtle She Rehabbed And Released

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Veterinarian Reunites With Turtle She Rehabbed And Released

The vet repaired the turtle's shell with fiberglass and expected the fiberglass to eventually fall off.

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A veterinarian who years ago repaired the shell of an injured box turtle came across the same turtle she treated while walking in the woods near her clinic.

A client had brought the reptile to Dr. Shannon Moore of Hocking Hills Animal Clinic in southeast Ohio, who treated the box turtle for a cracked shell and never expected to see the reptile again.

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"Several years ago, a client brought me a box turtle that had been hit by a car. I used fiberglass to repair his broken shell and then released him in my woods," Moore wrote on the clinic's Facebook page. "Recently, while walking on my hillside, I spotted an odd pattern in the leaves. To my amazement, there was my old patient with the fiberglass still on … years later! Sometimes, being a vet is the best thing there is."

eastern box turtle

Dimitrios Pippis/Shutterstock

Box turtles are smaller turtles that are often kept as pets.
 

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Moore wrote that she never expected to see the box turtle again, because if she did, she would have made the fiberglass she used to repair the turtle’s shell.


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“If I'd known the fiberglass was going to stick around "forever," I would have made it more stylish! I assumed it would drop off rather quickly,” Moore wrote on Facebook.

The repair has held up well, and hopefully the box turtle won't have any more encounters with cars.

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