Sanibel Fire and Police pulled off a daring and unique rescue: saving a local turtle from a drain.
“It’s usually ducks or hatchlings,” said Deputy Chief John DiMaria. A turtle, he said, was unusual. But, still, he added, Sanibel is a sanctuary island, so it’s not unusual for animals to be rescued and taken to the sanctuary.
The department announced the rescue on Facebook, detailing the intrepid conduct of its first responders.
One December day, shortly after Christmas, Captain Robert Wilkins and his crew received a call from a concerned citizen about a turtle that had been stuck in a drain for a couple days at a nearby strip mall.
“The call came into the firehouse and the lady was obviously distraught,” Wilkins said. “She was telling us the turtle was in a drain and it had been there for three or four days. She’d called multiple people to help it and no one was coming.”
When firefighters arrived, they spotted the turtle, stuck several feet below a metal grate covering a circular drain. Pictures posted on Facebook show the turtle, its small head floating in a pool barely larger than the turtle itself, surrounded by debris and muck.
“My first thought was, if it got in there it might be able to get itself out, but the fact that it had been there for three or four days in the same position, it could have been sick or injured,” Wilkins said.
However, firefighters said the turtle was not the typical mutant, sewer-dwelling ninja turtle readers may be familiar with. It held neither samurai sword nor nunchuks, and it did not ask its rescuers for pizza.
A turtle stuck in a drain was rescued by Sanibel Fire and Rescue District and Sanibel Police Department responders at a shopping center on the island in December 2024.
Three firefighters pulled off the rescue, two holding onto a third’s legs as they lowered him, head-first, into the drain.
Firefighter Allen Schelm was the lucky firefighter who got lowered into the drain by his legs, and said he volunteered for the privilege.
“Once we could see how deep the turtle was and it was clear we didn’t need a ladder or a rope to get him out,” said Schelm. Two of his colleagues gripped his legs, and he leaned down, headfirst to grab the terrapin, without worry.
Moments later, he emerged, triumphant, turtle in hand.
Schelm may have been so cool about it because this wasn’t Schelm first animal rescue.
It’s even become a hallmark of his service in Sanibel, he said. He saved a cat from an engine compartment, a pelican with a hook in its neck. And now, he added, a turtle.
At least one of the rescuers may be going by “Michaelangelo” now, DiMaria said.
“We may or may not have ordered some rubber duckies with that written on them,” he joked.
The turtle, however, was dubbed “Mr. Pickles” by some kids who were on-scene, watching the rescue unfold.
“We held him up and asked them what he should be called,” Schelm said. “They said Mr. Pickles, because he had gotten himself in a pickle.”
The first responders walked the turtle to a nearby lake and set it free, where, hopefully, it remains.
“We are happy to service our community, big or small – including our wildlife community,” Sanibel Fire wrote on Facebook. “Great job to all of those who helped!”
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Sanibel first responders perform daring rescue of local turtle