“These species are invasive, they’re non-native and I knew it was going to upset the ecology of the tarn, which is very finely balanced,” she said of the turtle, who has no natural predators and would clean the tarn of its wildlife. “That type of creature, while it’s not going to breed, could do some real damage to the fish stocks and eat all sorts of local wildlife.”
The rescue
Never having handled this type of animal before, Chamberlain proceeded with extreme caution. Armed with safety gloves to protect her fingers and a shopping basket to carry him to a new home, she entered the murky waters.
Because the water and the turtle were cold, it was easy to capture, but not before warning her captor by opening her powerful jaws.
“Fortunately, because it was quite cold and the turtle itself was quite cold, it wasn’t too difficult to manoeuvre into the shopping basket,” Chamberlain adds.
