{"id":661272,"date":"2026-05-23T22:56:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T22:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661272\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T22:56:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T22:56:26","slug":"huge-endangered-snapping-turtle-rescused-from-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661272\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge endangered snapping turtle rescused from pond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"a-term a-term--primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/tag\/local-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLocal News\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\u201cThis is one of the first alligator snappers that&#8217;s been found in the wild in Massachusetts, which means that somebody had it as a pet,\u201d a herpetologist with MassWildlife said.<\/p>\n<p><img width=\"760\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-21-at-6.20.30-PM-6a0fa3f38aa82-760x432.png\" class=\"attachment-16:9 size-16:9 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/><br \/>\n\tAn alligator snapping turtle that was found in an Essex County pond. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries &amp; Wildlife\t<\/p>\n<p>An alligator snapping turtle, one of the first seen in the state, was found living in an Essex County pond after being abandoned by its owner, state wildlife officials said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is one of the first alligator snappers that\u2019s been found in the wild in Massachusetts, which means that somebody had it as a pet,\u201d Mike Jones, a herpetologist with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife\u2019s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MassWildlife\/videos\/an-alligator-snapping-turtle-in-massachusetts-our-turtle-biologists-recently-res\/2781951808870997\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">video posted by MassWildlife to social media.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is illegal to have alligator snapping turtles as pets in Massachusetts, wildlife officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Trina Wantman, a freshwater turtle biologist, was contacted by local homeowners regarding a potential alligator snapping turtle in their pond, MassWildlife posted.<\/p>\n<p>The 60-pound reptile was very lethargic due to the cold water temperatures and was suffering from severe pneumonia, wildlife officials said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are not native to Massachusetts. They don\u2019t do well in our environment,\u201d Wantman said.<\/p>\n<p>Alligator snapping turtles are native to Louisiana throughout Iowa, meaning they\u2019re used to warmer waters, wildlife officials said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Officials identified the turtle as an alligator snapper because of its shell shape and its unique tongue, which is shaped like a \u201cworm-like lure,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n<p>The turtle was taken to the New England Wildlife Center to recover from pneumonia. Officials also hope to learn where the turtle came from, MassWildlife posted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The turtle will hopefully be returned to its \u201cnative range\u201d to be a part of conservation efforts, Jones said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Today newsletter<\/p>\n<p class=\"m-generic-cta__subtitle\">Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local News \u201cThis is one of the first alligator snappers that&#8217;s been found in the wild in Massachusetts,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-661272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661272","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=661272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}