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This majestic animal was photographed in the Mississippi River. The authorities have addressed people telling them not to worry,
And what would you have done if you had seen such a creature?
Shala Holm is a Buffalo, Minnesota native. Shala encountered a huge snapping turtle months ago, but it is only recently that her picture has gone viral.
This photo shows the turtle and its huge claws trying to catch a net full of fish. It looks like a Godzilla because it is many times bigger than a normal turtle.
Shala was with her family on their annual vacation at Niemeyer’s Rugged River Resort near Brainerd this past summer. Holm was in a tandem kayak with her daughter when they first encountered the animal.
“My daughter all of a sudden said, ‘Mom, be quiet. I can hear something breathing,'” Holm recounted.
When Holm turned to look for something more typical at the shore, she was startled to see the turtle’s nose moving towards a fish basket that hung from their kayak.
“He kind of clawed onto it,” she said. “He was so big, and we were so startled.”
To scare off the turtle, Holm shook the basket until it swam away.
Curious if they could find it again to catch a photo, the mother and daughter came back to the spot the next day in their kayak. They passed the time catching fish until the turtle returned.
“When you’re in a kayak, the beauty of it is you’re really close to the water,” Holm said. “So we were really quite close.”
Mother and daughter were not sure about her size
According to the State Department of Natural Resources, adult snapping turtles average 8 to 14 inches long and weigh 10 to 35 pounds. The biggest turtle recorded in Minnesota was an impressive 65 pounds!
Shala sent the picture to the DNR for more information. They believed the turtle was at least 15 years old, but could even be 30 years old.
“Most of them are like, is this really real?” she said. “It really is.”
According to the owner, the resort’s location is on a quiet, slow section of the Mississippi north of Brainerd. They often see a variety of local wildlife there.
“Every June, we get many turtles coming up on the shore and they’re laying their eggs,” she said. “It’s one of the things we love is watching the turtles. So this was pretty crazy to see a big one like that.”
“I’m going to go back to that spot next year and see if he or she is still around,” she said.
