There are plenty of calls that animal protection officers expect to receive. Loose dogs, injured wildlife, and the occasional escaped pet usually top the list.
A stranded snapping turtle tangled in fishing line in the middle of a lake is a little less common. That’s exactly what prompted an unusual rescue in Lafayette, Colorado.
In a Facebook post by the Lafayette Police Department, Animal Protection Officer Hettinger responded to Waneka Lake after reports of a common snapping turtle that had become entangled in discarded fishing line. The turtle was stranded in the water and unable to free itself.
With assistance from the Lafayette Fire Department, the rescue team made its way out onto the lake and safely freed the turtle from the line. The reptile will now be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center to receive care before it can hopefully return to the wild.
Flamingo Boat Rescue Steals the Show
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The video isn’t your typical rescue video. You can see three people on a flamingo-shaped boat wading out into what looks to be a small lake.
Two people were using their feet to paddle the boat slowly towards the turtle, while the third person sat in the back with a net. Once they got close enough, the man wrapped the net around the turtle and pulled it out of the water.
He didn’t pull the turtle onto the boat, likely for fear of hurting it further. So, he left it inside the net and brought it to shore off-camera.
Commenters Declare the Flamingo Boat the Real MVP
The turtle rescue earned plenty of praise, but commenters were just as entertained by the unusual way responders reached the stranded reptile. Many joked that the inflatable flamingo-style paddle boat nearly stole the show, with one person writing, “POV: you signed up to fight fires and ended up pedaling a flamingo for a snapping turtle.”
Others loved the lighthearted approach, calling the boat “classic” and saying the rescue deserved to make local and even national news. One commenter even joked that Lafayette now has a “rapid-response rescue unit with Tactical Flamingo division.”
A few commenters said the rescue perfectly captured what they love about living in Lafayette. One summed up the mood by writing that it isn’t every day you see police officers rescuing a snapping turtle from a swan boat, calling Officer Hettinger “the best” and thanking the team for giving the turtle another chance.