US

Animal Abuse? Firefighters Called in to Rescue Turtle Taped to Balloons Stuck in Tree

Southern California Woman Finds Turtle Taped to Helium Balloons Stuck in a Tree

This blurry image shows home video of the turtle (right) hanging from the balloons in a tree. (Image: KGTV screenshot)

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (TheBlaze/AP) — It’s not exactly the usual firefighters called because the cat is stuck up the tree scenario, but rescuers were called in to retrieve another animal: a turtle duct taped to a batch of helium balloons.

Now Humane Society officials in a Southern California city are trying to determine who duct-taped a turtle to a bunch of balloons and sent it soaring

Chanelle Wright told KGTV-TV Tuesday that she and her neighbors found the turtle taped to the green and red balloons caught atop a eucalyptus tree in Oceanside on Sunday.

Wright said she called the Humane Society and Fire Department, who arrived about an hour later. Firefighters were about to rescue the turtle with a ladder truck when a gust of wind came and blew it to the ground. It was unharmed.

Here’s more from KGTV on the situation:

“We look up and there’s green and blue balloons up there,” said resident Chanelle Wright. “He was just swinging his arms trying to get out of it. Somebody had taped him to the balloons.”

Wright told 10News, “I called the Humane Society to try to get the fire department out here, but it took about an hour for everybody to actually show up.”

In the meantime, the turtle hung dangling in the wind. That‘s when Joel Rabago’s mother got out her camera and started taking video of the hanging turtle.

“When something like this happens, she always takes the video camera, no matter what it is,” Rabagos said.

[...]

“It’s animal abuse. If you didn’t want the turtle, give it away, take it to a pet store,” Wright said.

Watch the report:

Humane Society officials say they are keeping the turtle while they investigate. Wright says she was horrified by the animal abuse and plans to adopt the turtle if no one claims it.

KGTV reports if the person who taped the turtle to the balloons is found, he or she could face animal abuse charges.

Comments (59)

  • BOMUSTGO
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:05am

    They say,”Those who did this will seriously be charged.” But, it’s OK to kill unborn human babies.

    Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
  • BOMUSTGO
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:50am

    California is so bad that the turtles are going to great extremes in trying to leave the state.

    Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
    • poorrichard09
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:13am

      turtles have arms? who knew?? :-D

      Report Post »  
    • BOMUSTGO
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:07am

      After his first failed attempt at leaving the State of California, the turtle was seen days later, on the side of the road trying to hitch a ride with a sign that said, “Florida or bust!”

      Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
    • MetalPatriot
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:08pm

      Stewie: HA!
      Stan: aaaaah…funny.

      Could this be an atheistic science project to see if the turtle could evolve fast enough to escape?, He/she/it remains in CA which further demonstrates the primitiveness of its residents.

      Report Post » MetalPatriot  
  • SocialistSlayer
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:41am

    Relax people – It was probably just a couple of curious kids! Shut down the witch hunt and put out the bonfire – No need to start burning people at the stake for their horrendous crimes! Find something more useful to do with your lives like identifying the Treasonous Communists among us!

    Report Post » SocialistSlayer  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 2:24pm

      No animal should be abused, so yes, it should be investigated and those guilty should be punished in some manner, kids or adults. Civilized people do not harm living things with feelings. This is not to say there aren’t other important items to investigate. It’s to say that purposefully harming an animal should be a crime.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
  • Zipit
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:33am

    Camera pans to turtle walking in the front door and saying to his wife, “hony you’ll never believe what happened to me today”!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:23am

    Do turtles really need to be adopted? Find a nice wooded area with water and turn him loose, he’ll be fine.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • SocialistSlayer
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:37am

      Really – shows how radical these useless people are!

      Report Post » SocialistSlayer  
    • Mapache
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:45am

      They want him to become a ward of the state. Don’t you know that no living thing can survive on its own without government care! Ha ha ha….living on its own, you have to be kidding!! The turtle needs to be sent to turtle foster care at a cost of only $45k a year!

      Report Post » Mapache  
    • RobbieTLHughie
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:46pm

      Dear lord, what is wrong with you people…

      Report Post » RobbieTLHughie  
  • ONE PERCENT
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:09am

    I assume that all that are Pro-Turtle are certainly Pro-Life, no hypocrites here I am sure….

    Report Post »  
    • elkslayer
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:07am

      I am a compassionate, humane person, I am a meat hunter.If no one wants it I will cook it and put it on my list right beside rattle snake.

      Report Post » elkslayer  
  • BryanB
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:05am

    Thats just sad……..

    Report Post » BryanB  
  • Mapache
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 6:28am

    find the guilty party and send them up in a balloon.

    Report Post » Mapache  
  • 13Lena
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 4:39am

    People who can not love and show compassion for animals will not love or show compassion for humans. I hope they find this moron or better yest maybe some one will find him first and tape him to a cement block and throw him in a river.

    Report Post » 13Lena  
  • suz
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:21am

    OF COURSE it’s abuse — they‘re frightened for cryin’ out loud.

    Report Post » suz  
  • Mikev5
    Posted on August 23, 2012 at 1:03am

    Hello people kids do this kind of thing all the time if you dont think so you have your head stuck in the sand kids will be kids they just dont know better even if told its wrong they will still try it one time.

    We all know kids in our youth that has done this kind of thing just to see what will happen.

    Dont pretend you never did anything like it at one time brcause you did

    Report Post » Mikev5  
    • sillyfreshness
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:48am

      Torture animals? No I can’t say that I ever did something like that. They need to catch who did it, because someone who would do that to a defenseless turtle, might harm a defenseless child. Not saying they would, but there’s a chance that person has a screw loose.

      Report Post » sillyfreshness  
    • Logistician
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 4:34am

      Very true. I couldn’t help but laugh at this headline. That said, if it was an adult doing such things, that person would have to be retarded or something….

      Report Post » Logistician  
    • jake-spoon
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:50am

      Do you think he thought he was rodan for a second?

      Report Post »  
    • seanscythe
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:00am

      I’m sorry this is just kids doing stupid stuff. Yeah it’s mean and cruel, but when you let kids out to do whatever they want they will do stupid stuff. I remember when I was a kid we would go “Frog Bashing” we would find big sticks and walk along the banks of streams and see who could kill the most frogs. I look back now 20 years later and see it was stupid but as a kid it was just us out playing.

      Report Post » seanscythe  
  • Bethany
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:37pm

    Of course it is animal abuse! Why is this headline a question?
    If you do not care about an animal’s suffering than this may not seem like a big deal to you. Remember this, people who can torture an innocent animal without a hint of a compassion will treat human beings with the same regard… And no, I do not mean people are going to be taped to balloons. Whether this is a child or an adult who did this they should face consequences or at the very least have some counseling… I mean, who tortures a defenseless turtle, a kitten, a puppy? Psychos.
    To those who are Christian and seemingly do not care, remember this: Proverbs 12:10
    “The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”
    I wish compassion for all was creatures on this planet was a common thing~

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:25am

      The you…. a member of a Predator Species… would Starve… or be Enslaved!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • Bethany
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:33am

      @Luker. Please, when responding to me take the time to make sense or at least relate to my initial comment. Otherwise it is really pointless.

      Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:14am

      @
      1) You wrote: ‘I wish compassion for all was creatures on this planet was a common thing-’
      2) I responded: You are a member of a Predator Species… which implies You eat Life Forms, You have the potential to Kill, and if You act Stupid, You will Starve or be Enslaved by other Predators… because your “wish” does not conform to the Nature of Reality!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 3:16am

      Bethany.. abuse is a beating for no reason. abuse is starving a living being because it does not understand that you do not want defecating on your floor. abuse is walking up to another living being and HITTING it with a baseball bat because it would be fun.

      Taping a turtle to anything that causes the turtle no harm is a prank. I am one of those people that stops traffic to help the turtle across the street.

      as for the above that was me receiving a beating for no reason from my male parent. I rescued that dog at six months of age(Chow-Rotwieler): she died in my arms at 14yrs of age with advanced cancer. The baseball slugger received several years for the murder of an Alpaca here in southern Ohio.

      YOU bethany do not know what abuse is. and please be careful throwing the words of the Christian bible around loosely. Somebody just might slam them back at you.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • Chrischan74
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 5:23am

      @ Stoic One:
      So taking a living being out of his natural environment is no abuse? Turtles a crawling on the earth, not flying around, taped to a baloon.
      But if this is no abuse for you, how would you feel, when you would be taped to a baloon a left to tangle around?

      Report Post »  
    • jake-spoon
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 7:28am

      How do we know the turtle wasn’t having fun before the hang-up in the tree. Maybe he thinks he was abducted by a ufo.The lady said he was waving his arms,so that implies he also has hands,maybe he did it himself. Left in the wild he probably would’ve been eaten by a crow or flattened by a car,let him have some fun. It also could be that turtles are evolving and this is a fledging space program.Who knows.

      Report Post »  
    • Bethany
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:35am

      @Stoic one. You have no clue how long that turtle had been up in the air or how long it was deprived of water and food because of the so called “prank” If the turtle would hot have been found it would have died of starvation and dehydration. There is no way it could have possibly made it through the rest of it’s life dragging around deflated balloons. Do you find that funny? I am at a loss how you somehow find taping a turtle to balloons causing the animal to be fearful and confused a “prank”.
      This was abuse, and it is pretty sad that you can’t see that.
      Also, you have a lot of nerve to tell me I do not know what abuse is when you have no idea of who I am, what I have seen, and what I have been through in my life.

      Report Post »  
    • Bethany
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:39am

      @Luker. Animals that are predator species attack for food or to protect their young. Most animals would never think twice about torturing another animal just for the heck of it. No, for the most part, that seems like something only a human would think about doing.

      Report Post »  
    • apbt55
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 10:20am

      No animals are not humans, little kids experiment all the time, maybe it was little boy who wish he could hold on to a balloon and escape the lunatics like you. The whole concept of humane treatment of animals is idiotic at best and conspiratorial at worst. An animal is not human and therefore does not have human rights and can not be treated humanely. And the predator comment made perfect sense unless you are a brain dead moron raised on disney cartoons with animals that talk and are over personified. Predators typically play with species lower on the food chain it is the natural order of things. Maybe it was a smart child who weighed the turtle and was doing a correlational analysis to see what surface area of balloon would be needed to lift him . or maybe it was you kid, saying my mom is such a tool this will teach her. either way it is an animal, nothing was hurt get over it.

      Report Post »  
    • jake-spoon
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 11:04am

      Bethany,ever see a housecat play with a mouse for an hour before he kills it and then walks away without eating it. If that ain‘t torture then grits ain’t grocreies.Killer whales play tennis with seals all the time. They do all kinds of stuff to each other,they’re animals.Now quit squallin’.

      Report Post »  
  • jimbo_from_suwanee
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:20pm

    As God is my witness, I thought turtles could fly.

    Report Post » jimbo_from_suwanee  
    • lukerw
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:26am

      They couldn’t find a Pig!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • jimbo_from_suwanee
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 8:57am

      Or Turkey’s. My post is a play on a famous WKRP in Cincinnati TV scene/clip. I am sure it is on youtube.

      Report Post » jimbo_from_suwanee  
  • JUSTANOTHEROPINION
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:10pm

    Stupid people do stupid things.

    Report Post »  
  • ONE PERCENT
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:01pm

    The country is headed over the edge, and we have a turtle abuse news story. it’s a friggin TURTLE people! Our people dying in Afgan, millions more on food stamps, unemployment beating up the economy, Obama running the largest deficit in all creation, and still a TURTLE taped to some balloons has that part of the world talking animal abuse…..it’s enough to make you think the patients are running the nut house…

    Report Post »  
  • mr.goodvibe
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:56pm

    If turtles were meant to fly Mr. Darwin would have evolved them wings!

    Report Post » mr.goodvibe  
  • Chuck Stein
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:49pm

    Wow. Would have thought of it? A turtle with ARMS!

    Report Post »  
  • elle1940
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:46pm

    Went to the local party store last week and they had no balloons due to a national helium shortage. Now we know why. Glad the turtle is okay.

    Report Post »  
    • Winedude
      Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:17pm

      I saw the same thing. It wasn’t all that long ago that you could buy a canister of helium at COSTCO. Does anyone know the story behind the helium shortage?

      Report Post »  
    • Psychosis
      Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:36pm

      @ winedude

      epa regulation

      Report Post » Psychosis  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:35pm

    Oh my Lord… I can just see the new Blaze newbies from Media Matters with the handle “Turtle Taped to Balloons Stuck in Tree because of Glenn Beck” and an Avatar of a “Turtle Taped to Balloons Stuck in Tree”.

    Rachel Maddow, Chris Lawrence, Martin Bashir, Al Sharp[ton and Ed Schultz…. are you “tuned in” to making this a Presidential issue against Mitt Romney? Or, are your “turtle heads” stuck down a toilet?

    Report Post » The-Monk  
  • jungle J
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:34pm

    kill a child save a turtle..he was …it was…

    Report Post »  
  • nzkiwi
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:32pm

    Well, I laughed.

    Couldn’t help it. the culprits are likely to be eight year old boys, I suspect. The re-action is a little over the top, not that I am endorsing the action.

    Still, it’s not as bad as this…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0×1G_e_0GIw

    Or as funny…

    Report Post »  
  • KangarooJack
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:31pm

    The Horror The Horror!

    When the Humane Society lady cut the turtle loose, did she just let the balloons go??? {Ahhhh! recycle!}.
    Did no one have a BB Gun to shoot down the balloons {1 by 1} instead the Fire Dept. has to run a call?
    Guess nobody eats turtle there….?
    lol!

    {As I hand feed my red-earred sliders…they think the box turtle was a wimp!}

    Report Post » KangarooJack  
  • Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:27pm

    At least they didn’t get Pigs to fly. Maybe this is the new NASA space program, they have given up on the muslim outreach program, they concluded it was easier to put a man on the moon. Here is a tip, look for a bunch of kids with a package of ballons and tape, I bet you find the culprits.

    But then again, now we know how the turtle beat the Hare.

    Report Post » Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra  
    • jake-spoon
      Posted on August 23, 2012 at 2:21pm

      Darmok, I‘m glad pigs can’t because I’d have to wash my car every day.

      Report Post »  
  • theninthplanet
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:26pm

    I feel like this is something a six year old might do. [sarcasm]Now we need to ban helium!!![/sarcasm]

    Report Post » theninthplanet  
  • afishfarted
    Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:25pm

    You mean to tllme the American public has become so dependent on government entities that they have to call the fire dept for THIS ?!?!?!!?!? What?? Is duct tape npo a HAZMAT ???

    I’m really at a loss to explain stupid people anymore

    Report Post »  
    • mr.goodvibe
      Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:59pm

      OSHA hands out big fines for improper ladder use, You must have a body harness with a fall arrest system, an engineered anchorage point and hours of training for such operations.

      Report Post » mr.goodvibe  
    • afishfarted
      Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:04pm

      you know, I honestly forgot that nonsense. I do stand corrected. I quit after the union shop I woked in Illinios managed to take more money from the company by mandating proper ladder use on company time

      Report Post »  

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love