Outside the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan.
Linda, a turtle fan tells me:
The consensus on Turtle Rescue of Long Island message board thought it might be a red-eared slider of some sort — albeit a dirty one — because of what little bit of color you can see on the bottom of the shell under it’s neck and around the edges. The other theory was a diamondback terrapin who swam up from the south jersey coast. But most likely it is a slider. Red-eared sliders (usually abbreviated RES) are extremely common and often dumped because they get too big and people don’t know what else to do. Here’s the website of a rescue organization that gives advice for trying to rescue RES. It might not be so easy. As for whether he needs rescuing, I have no idea what to say, RES are freshwater turtles, and I have no idea what effect brackish water would have on them. And it’s definitely a male. Females don’t have those long nails. Chinatown markets sell live RES as food and sometimes they get away.
More on Linda’s blog post: Turtle Sighting in Lower Manhattan
