I read the article in your paper on Reptiles at Risk in Muskoka (May 18, A20) and have to disagree with the comments “if you leave snapping turtles alone, they are not a threat” and snapping turtles “don’t attack people”. They may not attack people but they certainly do bite people and their bite is anything but passive.
Last July I was reading The Muskokan while dangling my feet in the water off the end of our dock on Lake of Bays. I had a sudden pain in my foot and looked down to see the snapping turtle who had just bitten the bottom of my foot near my big toe.
The bite was a triangle shape with nasty serrated edges.
Not knowing if this type of bite needed medical attention, my daughter used her i-phone to look for first aid tips for turtle bites but only found first aid for turtles. We learned there was a way to do artificial respiration on a turtle. We decided the turtle was probably fine and was not the one who needed first aid. We cleaned out the deep gash on my foot and used gauze and duct tape to make a pressure dressing.
People I told about my visit from the snapper said they had never heard of a snapping turtle biting someone. Others said my pale foot must have looked like a fish.
Whatever the reason, I now wear bright red Crocs when I dangle my feet off the dock and hope I look less appealing as a turtle snack.
L. Boyd
Lake of Bays, Dorset