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Friday evening, it was a snake. First thing Saturday morning, it was a snapping turtle. It was a weekend for little wildlife emergencies at Devil’s Lake’s north shore boat landing.
Saving The Snake
On Friday evening the guys who brought the awesome Fox of the River Voyageur Canoe to Devil’s Lake State Park, noticed a crowd hanging out around their boat. While people do like to check out their canoe, these folks were a little “too” excited. What had happened is a few people found a northern watersnake and someone had tried to kill it by throwing a heavy rock on it! OK. Not cool.
Being on hand to get some video of the voyageurs (Coming soon!), I contacted the park naturalists and they came over to see what could be done. You could see the snake was hit quite hard as it left an imprint in the soil where it was hit. However, the snake was still alive with no visible injury, but on the other hand, it wasn’t reacting normally either. After a quick examination, they decided to take the snake up to the park’s Nature Center and see if it would recover. I can tell you that as of Sunday, the little watersnake is eating and seems to be doing better.
Let me just say this again. It’s ok if you don’t like snakes, (I won’t pick them up myself!) but it is just plain heartless and cruel to try to hurt or kill them. At Devil’s Lake State Park there are a variety of species of snakes and only one is venomous and that’s the Timber Rattlesnake. The ones you’re seeing down by the water are almost always northern water snakes, which unless you try to harass them, are not harmful. If you see one, simply let it pass. If you think it’s in danger, call a warden or even the nature center.
Saturday Snapping Turtle
First thing Saturday morning I was back at the park continue gathering video of the voyageur canoe. By 8 am the parking lots were already filling quickly! As I drove down to the north shore boat launch, I hit the brakes… There was a snapping turtle in the road!
Rescue a snapping turtle 
They bite! 
Snapping Turtle on Rug
OK, so I know the drill. You basically have to lift them from the back of the shell (Never by the tail!), and move them off of the road in the direction they are going. (You can put a rug, cardboard or a floor mat under the heavy ones!) But, this was a BIG snapping turtle AND they bite! So, again we called in the calvary! By the time the naturalist got down to the boat landing, a good-sized group of folks had gathered up to watch as she moved the snapper across the road and down to the lakeshore.
Happy Ending!
It’s not always happy of course. At a park as busy as Devil’s Lake State Park, encounters such as these happen all of the time. Often folks simply are not used to seeing wildlife and sadly, some folks are just cruel. So the rest of us can work together to help out and educate where we can, and call park staff when an animal needs help or might be in danger. As my favorite Canadian, Red Green, once said, “We’re all in this together.”
For nearly 2 decades the Skillet Creek blog has focused on 3 main goals; To inspire you to visit and explore the Devil’s Lake region, to help you get the most your visit by sharing tips, events, and other helpful information. Lastly to advocate for our environment & wildlife and talk about how we can keep our natural areas amazing now and into the future! That last goal can sometimes cause controversy, but it’s the only way we can accomplish the first two. – Derrick Mayoleth, Owner.
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