{"id":659303,"date":"2026-05-22T22:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659303\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:32:08","slug":"watch-alligator-snapping-turtle-found-in-massachusetts-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659303\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Alligator snapping turtle found in Massachusetts pond"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p>May 22 (UPI) &#8212; Wildlife officials in Massachusetts were called out to an Essex County pond to capture an unusual non-native animal: a nearly 60-pound alligator snapping turtle.<\/p>\n<p>The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries &amp; Wildlife said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/2781951808870997\/?__cft__[0]=AZYOjYuu--LbKH7fQ2WW7C3qpG8xqm-GF-Phctuy45ZCrRXy8CsBnaPb3GCHhqZdV3cowQUmCVsvin-1OFZBRAPZVTi003mfrugmdiKCGk7jDtei3hEwlOXfFJE4QxT2pVpwhm3srrd0ez0CZCEpRxV7cZd6Y-gMz4wMsiMG1oKk4l-pTev1FsH0ccd_fOLfBDLLJ1zQyH_V-M84_tg8Wp1j&amp;__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">on social media<\/a> that local residents contacted freshwater turtle biologist Trina Wantman and said they suspected a new arrival in their pond might be an alligator snapping turtle.\n<\/p>\n<p>The species is native to warmer waters ranging from Louisiana to southeastern Iowa, and they are not found naturally in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This turtle was struggling in our colder climate, and based on her condition, our biologists believe she was likely released after being illegally kept as a pet,&#8221; the post said.<\/p>\n<p>The female turtle was taken to the New England Wildlife Center where she is being treated for severe pneumonia.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 22 (UPI) &#8212; Wildlife officials in Massachusetts were called out to an Essex County pond to capture&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,2699,2697,79,2698,201],"class_list":["post-659303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-funny","tag-odd","tag-science","tag-weird","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}