Angry Snapping Turtle on the "Swamp Road"

The previous night had been stormy, with heavy rain, lightning, and thunder until after 11 PM, when my old hound dog and I finally got to sleep.  The power went out about 3 AM.  We got up at 5 AM and made do until NYSEG arrived.  Crews were on my property and at the Underhill property across the road.  I do not know the cause of the outage, but power was restored by 7 AM.

Later that morning of June 10, 2026, at about 1130,  I went to town for a few essentials, taking the detour toward Rt 77 then to Rt 53 via Waldo Road (I call it the "Swamp Road").

I was returning home on Waldo Road when I came across a green pickup truck with a black bed cap stopped along the road and a woman using a cardboard box in an apparent attempt to carefully "wrangle" a large adult male snapping turtle from the center of the roadway between the two sides of the "swamp".

I stopped behind her vehicle to check it out. The woman explained she had observed two turtles (male and female), and that the female had crossed the road with the male following her. The male was a large (angry) adult with a smooth green shell of about 18" and a "yellowish" face and belly. (A very handsome turtle).

During a brief assessment of the situation, and considering the increased traffic at that time, I remembered that I still had a winter brush/ice-scraper on a telescopic pole in my truck.  I decided I would try to use it to help get the "snapper" off the road.

So I approached the turtle from its rear, with the "squeegee" portion on the road surface, and attempted to coax it to cross to the other side.  But the angry "snapper" turned and immediately began attacking (biting) the upturned brush portion of my tool.

I did not want to drag the angry turtle on its belly, which might cause it harm. But it violently attacked the brush, even rolling onto its own back a couple of times, then righted itself in the process. After the very brief struggle, the angry snapper was safely off the road.

The woman thanked me for helping her with the turtle, and we went our separate ways, leaving the hissing, angry, amphibious reptile from whence it had come, beside the road at the crossing of the swamp.