By Janine Wollbrett
Suddenly the Hyundai i30 was a tank vehicle: while changing the oil, car mechanics found a turtle wedged in its engine compartment!
The owner took the compact Korean to a workshop in the Pfaffengrund district of Heidelberg at the weekend. When the mechanics took a closer look at the vehicle on the lifting platform, they couldn’t believe their eyes: four little turtle legs were wriggling between the drive shaft and the oil pan.
The animal-loving car mechanics immediately called the Rhein-Neckar animal rescue service to help. Even the experienced animal rescuer Michael Sehr (42) was amazed at the turtle in the car engine: “I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
Rescue with the crowbar
Then the tricky rescue operation: “The mechanics first had to carefully dismantle all the sheet metal parts around the turtle, then use a crowbar to push the engine block to the side. Only then did I have enough leeway to get the poor animal out,” Sehr told BILD.
The turtle was injured on the tail and underside of the shell Photo: Michael Sehr/Rhine-Neckar professional animal rescue service
The rescue probably came at the last second. Very: “The turtle was injured in the tail and shell. In addition, fly eggs had already nested in her wounds. The poor woman probably wouldn’t have survived much longer in this predicament.”
But how does a turtle get into the car?
Michael Sehr suspects: “She must have escaped or been abandoned, then she apparently somehow managed to crawl into the underbody of the vehicle with her short legs and then slipped deeper into the engine when it was started and got stuck there.”
The animal rights activist: “The driver didn’t even know that the turtle was in her engine compartment and had already left during the rescue operation and picked up the car later.”
Michael Sehr brought the completely exhausted turtle lady into one Veterinary practicewhere the animal, which is under strict species protection, is now being nursed and given medical care.