Page 21 - Boca Exposure - September '23

Boca Exposure, Page 21
Book Review

What is different about
Of Time And Turtles: Mending The this newest book is that Massachusetts and neighboring states who bring to them
injured turtles in need of their help, knowing of this facility’s
World, Shell By Shattered Shell it reveals more about Sy commitment: “Never give up on a turtle.”
Montgomery the author At any one time there are more than 200 patients in their
By Nils A. Shapiro herself than ever before as care, fed daily and stacked high in appropriately equipped
People throughout the she becomes emotionally tanks and bins. At first, each is given a number. Not until it is
world will consider this book involved in the events she certain that the turtle will survive is it given a name because of
a “must read” when they see describes for us here. The the emotional attachment that develops between humans and
the name of award-winning result is that I left many of the turtles until the patient is released back into the wild where it
author Sy Montgomery on pages stained wet with my was found, after care that can often take years of treatment.
its front cover. Her more own tears of empathy … as Many turtle species live in water, even able to stay underwater
than 30 previous books I suspect many readers will. for as long as months at a time through a special breathing process
include those which have Interestingly, while most explained in the book. (Turtles that live solely on land are called
climbed the bestseller lists in of Sy’s adventures have been tortoises.) Females, when ready to lay their eggs, instinctively
25 countries. set in all corners of the globe, return to the place on land where they themselves were born. With
The Boston Globe has this one required Sy and a friend of hers, Matt Patterson, to drive strong legs they dig holes in the dirt, deposit various numbers
referred to Sy Montgomery as “a combination of Indiana just several hours from their New Hampshire homes to Southern of eggs depending on the turtle species, then cover the nest and
Jones and Emily Dickinson” for her ability to describe so Massachusetts when they learned of a private nonprofit turtle return to the water or wooded area where they live. When the
beautifully her extraordinary adventures, including being rehabilitation center there and decided to volunteer their services. eggs hatch, the hatchlings (baby turtles) instinctively find their
chased by a silverback gorilla in Africa, hunted by man- Matt is an award-winning wildlife artist whose black-and-white way to their natural habitat. Depending again on the species,
eating tigers in India (which became the subject of a National drawings of various turtle species are included in the book. some turtles can live for up to 250 years, many for 100 years.
Geographic TV special), working in a pit with 18,000 snakes, Sy and Matt’s gratifying experiences over several years The problem is that over the years and centuries, mankind
studying octopuses in the Gulf of Mexico, swimming with at the Turtle Rescue League, and which continue to the has changed the environment so drastically that the turtles’
manta rays and sharks, being undressed by a wild orangutan, present day, are what motivated the writing of this new book. instincts often prove fatal. For example, the path from a turtle’s
and so many more … never once harming another creature. What they learn as volunteers, and we along with them, is pond to the place where it was born, perhaps many yards away,
She even encouraged a giant tarantula to walk across the fascinating, inspiring, yet often shocking and deeply moving. may now require crossing a highway with the result that one of
palm of her hand. To begin with, since turtles are in the category of reptiles the most common and serious emergencies brought to the Turtle
I am familiar with Montgomery’s works, having read, their faces have fixed features that cannot express feelings of Rescue League involves patients with cracked or crushed shells
loved and reviewed six of them in earlier columns. So it was any kind, so it is difficult for most people to think of them as or legs or internal injuries who have been run over by cars. Each
with much eagerness that I looked forward to this newest “pets.” But we soon discover that each is an individual with is treated with expert care. Some will survive, some will not.
book – although with some degree of apprehension since the its own personality, and in these pages we get to meet many Hundreds of thousands of turtles die this way each year on roads
subject matter, turtles, seemed a bit tame for this author’s turtles who have bonded with their “people,” for example and highways on the way to laying their eggs or returning.
often dangerous escapades. To say that I was in for a surprise following them around the house and even wanting their Some turtles are brought in who have been bitten by
is the understatement of the year! necks and shells scratched. unleashed dogs who see it as some kind of toy. We even
As expected, this newest of Montgomery’s works proved They are also smart: Tests have shown that some turtles witness here a turtle with an arrow sticking out from its neck
to be as wonderfully informative about its subject as are all are able to navigate mazes for food rewards as quickly as that was shot by someone “just for fun.”
her other works. You will learn many hundreds of fascinating can laboratory rats. As Sy and Matt volunteer at the hospital and get to know
facts about the 300 species of the world’s turtles, creatures The two women who started the Turtle Rescue League in each of the turtles by name (or number) and individual
that have walked this Earth for 250 million years and outlived 2009 are Alexxia Bell and her partner, Natasha Nowick, personality, we share that journey along with them, and the
the dinosaurs – taking to the seas when the asteroid that who is legally blind yet somehow skillfully performs every awareness of what these creatures are going through becomes
crashed on our planet extinguished all other life on land – task both inside the hospital and out among the fields a part of our own experience.
only to become endangered today because of the deadliest and ponds during the rescue and release operations. They
of all predators: humans. have assembled a team of many volunteers throughout Book Review on page 22

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