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Quick: Would You Swerve to Run Over a Turtle in the Road? Guess What This Study Found

Dec. 28, 2012 11:25am Jonathon M. Seidl

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson University student Nathan Weaver set out to determine how to help turtles cross the road. He ended up getting a glimpse into the dark souls of some humans.

Weaver put a realistic rubber turtle in the middle of a lane on a busy road near campus. Then he got out of the way and watched over the next hour as seven drivers swerved and deliberately ran over the animal. Several more apparently tried to hit it but missed.

Clemson Student Weaver Finds People Will Swerve to Intentionally Run Over Turtles

In this Dec. 12, 2012 photo, the shattered plastic shell of a fake turtle sits near the turtle’s rubber body on a road near Clemson, S.C. Clemson University student Nathan Weaver is placing fake turtles in roads near campus to see how many drivers intentionally run over the animals. Credit: AP

“I’ve heard of people and from friends who knew people that ran over turtles. But to see it out here like this was a bit shocking,” said Weaver, a 22-year-old senior in Clemson’s School of Agricultural, Forest and Environmental Sciences.

To seasoned researchers, the practice wasn’t surprising.

The number of box turtles is in slow decline, and one big reason is that many wind up as roadkill while crossing the asphalt, a slow-and-steady trip that can take several minutes.

Sometimes humans feel a need to prove they are the dominant species on this planet by taking a two-ton metal vehicle and squishing a defenseless creature under the tires, said Hal Herzog, a Western Carolina University psychology professor.

Credit: AP

“They aren’t thinking, really. It is not something people think about. It just seems fun at the time,” Herzog said. “It is the dark side of human nature.”

Herzog asked a class of about 110 students getting ready to take a final whether they had intentionally run over a turtle, or been in a car with someone who did. Thirty-four students raised their hands, about two-thirds of them male, said Herzog, author of a book about humans’ relationships with animals, called “Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat.”

Weaver, who became interested in animals and conservation through the Boy Scouts and TV’s “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, wants to figure out the best way to get turtles safely across the road and keep the population from dwindling further.

Among the possible solutions: turtle underpasses or an education campaign aimed at teenagers on why drivers shouldn’t mow turtles down.

Credit: AP

The first time Weaver went out to collect data on turtles, he chose a spot down the road from a big apartment complex that caters to students. He counted 267 vehicles that passed by, seven of them intentionally hitting his rubber reptile.

He went back out about a week later, choosing a road in a more residential area. He followed the same procedure, putting the fake turtle in the middle of the lane, facing the far side of the road, as if it was early in its journey across. The second of the 50 cars to pass by that day swerved over the center line, its right tires pulverizing the plastic shell.

“Wow! That didn’t take long,” Weaver said.

Other cars during the hour missed the turtle. But right after his observation period was up, before Weaver could retrieve the model, another car moved to the right to hit the animal as he stood less than 20 feet away.

“One hit in 50 cars is pretty significant when you consider it might take a turtle 10 minutes to cross the road,” Weaver said.

Running over turtles even has a place in Southern lore.

In South Carolina author Pat Conroy’s semi-autobiographical novel “The Great Santini,” a fighter-pilot father squishes turtles during a late-night drive when he thinks his wife and kids are asleep. His wife confronts him, saying: “It takes a mighty brave man to run over turtles.”

The father denies it at first, then claims he hits them because they are a road hazard. “It’s my only sport when I’m traveling,” he says. “My only hobby.”

That hobby has been costly to turtles.

It takes a turtle seven or eight years to become mature enough to reproduce, and in that time, it might make several trips across the road to get from one pond to another, looking for food or a place to lay eggs. A female turtle that lives 50 years might lay over 100 eggs, but just two or three are likely to survive to reproduce, said Weaver’s professor, Rob Baldwin.

Snakes also get run over deliberately. Baldwin wishes that weren’t the case, but he understands, considering the widespread fear and loathing of snakes. But why anyone would want to run over turtles is a mystery to the professor.

“They seem so helpless and cute,” he said. “I want to stop and help them. My kids want to stop and help them. My wife will stop and help turtles no matter how much traffic there is on the road. I can’t understand the idea why you would swerve to hit something so helpless as a turtle.”

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (114)

StormRider
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:24pm
And I bet 95% voted for Jugears, typical liberal philosophy, my happiness and life trumps everything else around me. No God, No guts, No grace. Enlightened ones living for themselves, these are little people having to kill something to prove their worth,while living worthless lives.

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- Greenwood
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 1:05pm
  It is the sign of these critical times, lack of respect for all life except their own. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 “men will be lovers of themselves”
  
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- JohnnyinthePedros
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 1:15pm
  This is an opportunity to show the Left what works.
  
  A government-funded “Save the Turtles” campaign would have predictably dismal results, but some enterprising capitalist needs to start selling little rubber turtles with metal spikes built into the shells. Place them on the shoulders of roads so that they aren’t hit accidentally. (It happens sometimes.) Once the word gets out that hitting a turtle may flatten your tire, the incidence of senseless turtle murders will drop out of a sense of self-preservation. I’d buy them by the six-pack. You could do the same with rubber snakes. Personally, I don’t kill anything I don’t eat, and have been “that guy” carrying turtles and snakes off the road.
  
  Except rattlesnakes, they get nailed. I slow down to make sure it isn’t a bull snake, but once I’m sure, I’ll back up to hit a rattler if I have to. No shortage of them in WY.
  
  Report this comment
- Hawk69
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 4:12pm
  @JOHNNYINTHEPEDROS That is a great Idea. A rubber turtle with spikes in it. As a conservative and a hunter, I try not to hit turtles. I bet its mostly liberal douchebags doing this.
  
  Report this comment
- bonesiii
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 5:05pm
  It’s evil spreading. We’ve all seen its results in other ways, why are we surprised? We NEED to get back to the Bible.
  
  Here’s what Genesis says about why we were created — not some kind of insecure dominance contest, but we have a job to do (this is about our role within the creation, not our relationship to God personally, of course). Rather than dominance, it is dominion — responsible management for peace.
  
  “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
  
  It goes on to say that we were to eat only plants originally — that has changed, of course, but smashing a turtle on the road is hardly providing food, unless you’re Larry, Darryl, and his other brother Darryl. Now I can see how some just from this might confuse “dominion” with dominance, but Jesus told us that it’s the other way around:
  
  “And Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant…’”
  
  So a ruler is to be a servant. We are servants to animals. And God will judge by this rule on the Day…
  
  Report this comment
- SgtB
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 5:51pm
  No one here needs the bible to tell them that running over turtles is a senseless act of violence and only proves that you are in fact, a douchebag piece of garbage that should be voted out of humanity. Furthermore, anyone who can rationalize the deliberate killing of an animal for no reason at all, would not be swayed by any religious philosophy. There just isn’t any arguing with a douche.
  
  Report this comment
- title_of_liberty
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:24pm
  Great idea JohnnyinthePedros, I would buy them. This story makes me sick. Rubber turtles with spikes in their backs would both help real turtles and teach the morons doing this a lesson.
  
  Report this comment
- sixtysix
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 10:55am
  I suspect you are right. There is a brutal, coarse flavor to liberalism. The are like the mean girls in high school who target anyone who is not in their click. Hateful and inhuman are mild descriptions of liberal thinkers.
  
  Report this comment
- RevDev
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 2:07pm
  STEP AWAY FROM YOUR KEYBOARS! I have this one figured out. Let’s break it down: Scenario1 College apartment complex street – 7 of 267 is 2.62%. Scenario2 Residential street – 1 of 50 is 2%. SUMMARY: College is bad. Established resident is better. There are 760 Americans in prison for every 100,000 citizens (Fareed Zakaria CNN). That is .76% or roughly the lead that “College” has over “Residential”. We all know that most college students will become residents eventually. SOLUTION: Shut down the Colleges and incarcerate all the students. No more Turtle Murder.
  
  Report this comment
- CRIMSONHORNET
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 2:37pm
  My God! You mean that Blaze has a story in support of an animals right to live?? I am shocked and even more shocked by all the comments standing up for animal rights. If this story had been about saving whales, dolphins,spotted owls or lord forbid our giant redwood trees, the comments would be blasting the “commie liberal treehuggers” for criticizing a humans right to kill what he/she wants. It’s all about FREEDOM afterall. What a load of crock and double standard you rightists have. And for the record, I have never intentionally ran over a turtle.
  
  Report this comment
- Capn John
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 3:36pm
  Add your comments
  
  Report this comment
- Capn John
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 3:53pm
  The post won’t let me comment directly, only as a reply to you Stormrider (You must be really important to be so singled out) so please don’t take anything personally.
  
  years ago, my brother took exception to this guy that was driving up and down our road on the first warm rainy day in the spring smashing as many toads as he could. My brother found one of the deceased critters that was not totally mangled, and equpped the carcass with a new set of spikes and put it slightly off the shoulder of the road. Sure enough the feller came back and swerved across the center line to run over the booby trap. He flattened both tires on his driver’s side and went into the ditch. My brother went to the driver’s “aid”. The guy couldn’t understand how that toad managed to strike back and get his tires. He was even more surprised when the deputy arrived and ticketed him for failure to control, malicious destruction of a protected species, and, upon noticing a pile of empty beer cans on the floor of the vehicle, cited him also for DUI and open container violation.
  
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- bonesiii
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 5:37pm
  “Furthermore, anyone who can rationalize the deliberate killing of an animal for no reason at all, would not be swayed by any religious philosophy.”
  That’s not really what I’m talking about. We’re letting the enemies of the Bible indoctrinate our kids to become like that. I don’t like to make assumptions that people who end up that way are ALL just inevitable. I do think that once they get that corrupt it’s unlikely that they’ll reform, but it’s happened too.
  
  And let’s not forget there’s a vast difference between “religious philosophy” and the life-changing power of the One True God through salvation in Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. :) There’s a lot of fake religious philosophy out there too. Anyways, the real point is that the root problem is a falling away from God, who is Love, Holy, etc. That’s what leads to sin.
  
  Report this comment
- WATER-THE-TREE
  Posted on December 30, 2012 at 1:21am
  I actually have stopped at least a half dozen times to help one across the road, I used to ride a bike a lot and it’s not at all inconvenient to stop and turn around and help it. I figured it would get hit just because it is such a slow crossing for the turtle, but I never would have guessed that SO MANY would actually hit it on purpose. I mean you know there are a few jerks out there but THAT MANY! Senseless.
  
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ares338
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:20pm
I always avoid the critters. One time however I stopped opened the door and grabbed the tail of what I soon found to be a snapping turtle…lol….he missed and I chunked him in the ditch.

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- Elena2010
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 2:35pm
  LOL — me, too. Not a snapper but a pee-er! Fool thing started peeing at me once I picked it up to get it onto the grass and safety (in the direction it was moving).
  
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ozchambers
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:15pm
I am certainly no “greenie”, but I am disappointed that so many would choose to needlessly kill an animal for no purpose except to make something die. And it is done as easily as a slight pull of the steering wheel. Easy no mess, no fuss kill and you just keep on rolling. I wonder how many of these drivers would be willing to do the deed with their hands?

Now imagine armed drones in our skies.

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- jhrusky
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 2:06pm
  Your point is quite valid.
  
  As to the turtles (or any living creature), yes, it is sad that some humans have apparently devolved enough to enjoy being able to kill something for the simple sake of killing it. Those same people, most likely, couldn’t/wouldn’t do it if they had to with their bare hands. Being behind the steering wheel of a vehicle makes them feel so much more powerful, much like many here feel when behind their keyboards.
  
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- Max jones
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 2:15pm
  RUSKY…you’re feeling pretty powerful today, ain’tcha?
  
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- jhrusky
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 10:02pm
  @ max jones
  
  If you only knew, max jones, if you only knew. Of course, ******** don’t typically recognize the obvious.
  
  Report this comment
- jhrusky
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:29pm
  Hmm. I guess the term ‘lib-turd’ is not allowed here.
  
  Report this comment
- Keatonc33
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 12:55am
  Really? no one see the parallel with hunting?
  
  Report this comment
- jhrusky
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 8:33am
  @ keatonc33
  
  From the original post “. . . needlessly kill an animal for no purpose except to make something die.”
  
  And then your response, “Really? no one see the parallel with hunting?”
  
  Is reading comprehension a tough thing for your mind to grasp?
  
  Report this comment
- WATER-THE-TREE
  Posted on December 30, 2012 at 1:29am
  KEATONC33 – You need to just put a turtle suit on and go lay in the road.
  
  Report this comment
scrapadapolis
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:15pm
True and funny story,My grandmother was letting my wife use her car to HONE her driving skills.That day my wife came home to tell me she did a good deed while driving.She then explained she saved a turtles life.She then told me instead of trying to go around the turtle she stopped the car and picked up the turtle and brought it to the side of the road.I then asked her which way was it headed?She said it was going to the right of me almost to the grass.I then responded So YOU put the turtle back where It came from?she said yes,My next response was That turtle got 3/4 across the road and didn’t get killed and you just put him back where he started from.YOU just pissed off that turtle..TRUE STORY AND SOMEONE PUBLISH THIS ONE.

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mellowlady
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:11pm
Even worse, those guys who were hunting deer in the city with bow and arrow were apparently hiding behind some brush trying to take shots at the fake turtle with arrows. DAMN them, damn them all to HELL!

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- RevDev
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 1:45pm
  I can’t see an archer shooting a turtle. There is a Zen to the sport and a sacredness to the kill. The ones I know are fairly protective of their arrows also. Firing into the ground or pavement is a “No-No” especially with deer hunting heads. .22LR on a snapper is a different story.
  
  Report this comment
lala76
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:11pm
Well, I’m one southerner who stops and moves the little guys out of the road. This can be pretty dangerous on country roads but I’m careful. The snapping turtle I encountered one day threw me for a loop, but my umbrella took the brunt of his wrath and I still got his rather large **** off the road!

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- Maji
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:38pm
  During the warm months is when they are out.
  You thump their shell,when they close,you grab
  them (the shell) mid way to the top!
  I move them the direction they’re traveling!
  
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- lala76
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:53pm
  Thanks for the advice! I too move them to the side of the road in which they were heading.
  
  Report this comment
- momofmy7
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 2:16pm
  When we lived in Oklahoma there were times when there would be a lot of turtles on the roads. I was told by people who had lived there for a while that it was not safe to hit a turtle. I always swerved anyways to MISS them, but after I was told that the shell of a turtle can crack and puncture your tire if you run them over, I was even more cautious! I tried moving one once but it was a water turtle and was way heavier than I had expected and had claws that dug into the ground and he moved way faster than I would have believed possible!
  
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- Keatonc33
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 12:56am
  LALA76.. you are a very good person! thank you!
  
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- fixer
  Posted on December 29, 2012 at 2:39am
  I usually stop and set them down across the road,too lala.
  
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The-Monk
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:01pm
Since they could see the drivers and could approximate their ages they should have included that in their results as well as gender.

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BlazeGlory
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:50am
How can we prevent turtles from being run over by motorists? a) education campaign aimed at teenagers on why drivers shouldn’t mow turtles down. If that works we should start a campaign to educate people why we should not mow each other down. b) turtle underpasses – but don’t forget you will need a campaign to educate the turtles to use them.

The only way to prevent turtles from being run over would be to elevate the roads in the areas where turtles are crossing and completely close off the original roadway or totally reroute the road.

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- AZgirl9000
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:42pm
  I don’t see why you’d have to educate the little things if you post enough “Turtle Crossing” signs next to the underpass.
  
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woodyee
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:48am
I once saw a dirtbag driving a black Porsche in Van Nuys (CA) swerve in an attempt to HIT a dog…

…low-life scombeg…

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- repairsea
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:10pm
  Obviously doesn’t understand physics because there could be a large amount of damage depending on the size of the dog.
  
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- Armyduderetired
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:45pm
  I live in Florida. We get a lot of road kill. The buzzards eat much of it. Driving my F450 service truck on a two lane highway going 60 mph a car on the opposite side of the road swerved into my lane and hit a buzzard that was feeding. I wanted to kill that ….er. I considered swearing into his lane but didn’t. I don’t hunt and what I kill (fish or other life) I eat. My guns are for killing humans. Evil, pure evil does exist. The day of reckoning is soon at hand. Have you prayed to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Eternal life would not be worth it if it meant that you would be trapped in the hell that we witness everyday in this world. Thank You JC, and God for sending him. Twice.
  
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TeresaJ
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:47am
That’s awful!

I’ve never moved a turtle, but I always swerve to miss it.

I guess this report shouldn’t be shocking, though. :( :( :(

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- naughtycal
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:56am
  I will stop if it’s not a super busy road and place them on what every side they were trying to get to…Turtle eat bugs I hate bugs the enemy of my enemy is my friend in this case.
  
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- Fubared
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:11pm
  I concur, unless it is a Maryland Terrapin.
  
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TX_45_ACP
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:46am
Where I live, we have a lot of turtles on the road. They get out of the bayou and into the street. I not only swerve, but I stop and pick up the turtle and take it back to the bayou. Thank you and many pats on my back. lol

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MiCurmudgeon
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:45am
I brake for all low IQ animals, except for some left winged idjiots.

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The-Monk
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:43am
1- I stop and help them cross the road.
2- If I’m in a car I’m driving. I’m never the passenger.
3- The cause and effect relationship of guilt and punishment continues to run and ruin people’s lives.

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BasketFullOfPuppies
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:39am
Spike strips for turtle shells? Maybe we could genetically modify them to grow spike strips naturally, like the stegosaurus did.

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- oldguy49
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:45am
  don’t get the gov involved……….down here in florida they spent million of dollars to build a turtle tunnel…………………
  
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pap pap
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:37am
I guess there are a lot of disgusting pigs out there.

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Elisheva
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:37am
If you dont know the answer to ..(would you swerve to avoid hitting a turtle/deer/dog/cat???) you get the pic)…Then Please remove your Drivers License from your wallet/purse and Shread it!

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- Kupo
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:56am
  But the question was whether you would swerve to deliberately hit the animal.
  
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ExO
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:37am
Personally I think this is part of a deeper issue.

To many people find the need to kill something Not for food, Not for protection but for the joy of killing something to me. I really feel the bigger picture is that is shows that to many in this country could care less about life of any living creature including humans.

Personal Liberty and Personal Freedom Requires Personal Responsibility

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- naughtycal
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:13pm
  You’re right.
  And since the last couple of generations have had personal resposibility socially removed from their psyche. Which is why some many support a cradle to grave government….
  
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Tri-ox
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:36am
That’s pretty awful. I have stopped many times to lift turtles to safety out of the road – it’s pretty sad that so many would go out of their way to kill them.

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BobtheMoron
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:35am
I thought that Survival of the Fittest, Natural Selection, Genetics and Evolution was supposed to take care of this problem. The slower turtles get killed leaving faster moving turtles to breed with faster moving turtles who have babies who are selected for speed and the faster ones of those breed among themselves etc.etc. etc. Maybe that is where rabbits came from and explains the old Tortoise and Hare fable.

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- WATER-THE-TREE
  Posted on December 30, 2012 at 1:45am
  If what you said was true then the turtles would should have wings by now.
  
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Tigress1
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:32am
Interesting. With the number of roadkill that we have in our area, I’ve often wondered if people were doing it on purpose. I’ve also wondered if more animals were being killed because people are yacking on cellphones and don’t even realize that they hit an animal?

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kickagrandma
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:32am
NEVER!

But give me a progressive and you’ve got another deal entirely!

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- GuruMeditation
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:00pm
  Hehe ;-)
  
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:31am
Welcome to the real world, I wonder how many democrats were among the turtle assailants.

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SocialistSlayer
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:31am
Must be obama voters – No friends of mine would ever hurt an innocent turtle !

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GoodCook
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:31am
He should have put a rubber liberal there and watched what happened,.

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- petey
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:49am
  You mean the kind that’s in the WH?
  That has to be the most rubbery liberal of all.
  
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- burnteye86
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 7:24pm
  If he had used a rubber gamecock people would have driven 100 miles just to hit it
  
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CALLMEMSGT
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:28am
Put up signs so the turtles know where to cross!

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- IndyGuy
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 11:34am
  I’m pretty sure Obama will give them a hundred million to put in an underpass tunnel for the turtles to get thru…
  
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