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Auto accident saga ends happily with turtle rescue

A Sunday morning auto accident on Vail Pass ended happily when Vail firefighters returned to the accident scene to find this turtle, after a youngster said he's lost it. The turtle was found, frozen, but 30 minutes in the sun put it right.
Special to the Daily |

VAIL — Emergency service workers even saved the turtle after a Sunday morning auto accident on Vail Pass, according to a social media post by Eagle County Paramedic Services.

About 9:30 a.m., Eagle County Paramedic Services, Vail Fire Department and Colorado State Patrol rolled about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, after an SUV rolled near Vail Pass, one of many accidents up there and the road was closed.

For this one SUV, one of the passengers was a young boy. While he and his family were being treated for minor injuries, one of the paramedic supervisors stopped to see how he was doing.



Not well, it turns out.

The kid was crying.

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He was crying, and the paramedic thought it was because he had an injured collarbone.

“NO!!! I lost my turtle,” the boy said.

After a couple questions the paramedic learned that the turtle was about the size of a quarter, and might still be in the car.

The car had been towed to the West Vail Shell, right next to the West Vail fire station.

The paramedics called the fire fighters and asked them to take a look for the lost turtle. Miraculously, they found the turtle.

It was frozen solid, so the firefighters called the paramedics and asked whet to do about that.

They put it in some tepid water and set it in the sun for about 30 minutes.

“It poked its head out and was doing fine,” Brandes said.


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