At NH Turtle Rescue we are continuously amazed by turtles and their resilience. Every single day I am in awe of the turtles in our care. We always admit turtles no matter the condition, because in the worst case scenario we can at least reduce their suffering and quickly provide pain relief, and at best we can save their life. But when a turtle arrives in terrible condition with a bad prognosis, it's always heartbreaking.

In Ursinia's case, two wonderful people showed up with her, explaining where they had found her in the road after she was hit. It was late in the season, August 30th to be exact, so we were seeing far fewer turtles on the roads. It's possible Ursinia was headed towards her hibernaculum when she was hit, or just moving wetland environments for suitable habitat and food.

When I peaked at her when transferring her into my car, my stomach sank. There was a huge hole where the bridge of the shell used to be, and her organs were spilling out of the hole. Even when she was sitting horizontally, gravity made the organs fall towards the open side.

Her injuries were startling, and in that moment a sinking feeling came across me. A feeling that inevitably I would fail, as I could likely not save this poor turtle, and these people would be devastated at the loss. With all I've seen I should know better by now than to react based on initial appearances, as I've been surprised in both good and bad ways, but it's hard to fight back making assumptions and the corresponding feelings they bring.

Ursinia had pain relief administered as soon as she was admitted, and her shell was temporarily stabilized and wrapped so that her organs would stay inside of her body. Ursinia then started triage, where she was placed in a quiet location to decompress while the pain medication started to take effect. Due to the severity of the wounds and her overall quiet demeanor, Ursinia needed some serious decompressing time. Since it was later in the day, she was left to triage for the evening.

I was so worried as I went to go check on her that morning, afraid she passed away overnight. But she was alive! It wasn't even 24 hours yet but it was still so encouraging. Maybe Ursinia would survive after all! Soon 24 hours passed, then 48, then 72…the critical period came and went. I was ecstatic.

As exciting as it was, Ursinia wasn't out of the woods yet. Her injuries were still so severe, and with the internal body cavity exposure, she needed antibiotics and constant attention to keeping her wounds clean. But before we knew it her antibiotics regimen was completed, and her wound just kept looking better. She was also eating, an indication of comfort, as turtles often will not eat for some time after trauma.

After a certain point of wound healing we opted to use the beeswax method, which closes off the wound from any water getting in, and beeswax has antibacterial properties as well. This allows her to be in a full aquatic setup, without compromising her wound care. And she was very happy with the upgrade!

Ursinia is still healing, and it will take some time for the healthy granulation tissue to establish itself and for the area to eventually harden. Turtles are slow healers. It's also always possible that there could be internal organ damage that results in a slower demise; turtles most commonly succumb to their injuries within 72 hours if they are going to, so this is more rare to see, but still within the realm of possibility. But we're just so happy with every day that we see progress, and feel increasingly hopeful that Ursinia will make a full recovery, and be able to be released into her home wetlands come spring 2024.