Every once in a while, an animal rides the subway, and it's usually pretty cute. But this poor guy, a tiny box turtle trapped on the Atlantic-Pacific platform in Brooklyn, just looks really, really freaked out. Could it be because he's actually Lionel, the escaped box turtle from the Inwood Hill Nature Center, blown so very far from home?
"You never know—this is New York City," said Park Ranger Renso Vidal when we called to inquire how a turtle might travel from Inwood to downtown Brooklyn. So far, Lionel has not been recovered, though Vidal guesses that he's "probably hibernating" somewhere closer to home. Still, he seemed concerned and asked that we send along the video so he could get a better look at the little guy. Runnin' Scared reports that at last sighting, NYPD officials had the turtle in a box, though his whereabouts are currently unknown. Either way, it's cute and a little sad all at the same time—we hope this little guy gets out of the platform okay, unless he's a regular commuter, like this bus kitty.
UPDATE 4:15 p.m.: Sunny Corrao, another Inwood Hill Nature Center Park Ranger, has called us back to say that sadly, the turtle in this video is not Lionel. She thinks this one might be a slider turtle, an aquatic species which are common pets and are also present in the city's parks. "It could be pet that someone wanted to get rid of or escaped, or it's possible that it's a wild turtle that got washed down to the subway tunnel when it rained," she said. For what it's worth, Corrao sounded a little sad that 1. Lionel is still missing, and 2. there's another turtle on the loose in a place where it clearly doesn't belong. Godspeed, slider turtle!
