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Outside/In

Why did the road cross the chicken?

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For humans, roads epitomize freedom. For wildlife, it’s a different story: a million animals are killed by cars every day in the US alone. How did our infrastructure turn so deadly? And what are people trying to do about it? In this episode, we look at how two very different species are impacted by roads. Along the way, we visit a turtle rescue clinic, hear about a celebrity cougar that was trapped in the Hollywood Hills, and find out what it took to fund what will soon be the world’s largest wildlife bridge. Featuring Ben Goldfarb, Alexxia Bell, Natasha Nowick, and Michaela Conder.   SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.  Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.    LINKS From bears to badgers, and crocodiles in Florida to salamanders in Vermont – check out these videos of wildlife crossings in action across the country. (NYTimes) Check out Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, by Ben Goldfarb. Read more about The Turtle Rescue League in Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell, by Sy Montgomery. Engross yourself in the stories of the National Park Service’s Puma Profiles of the Santa Monica Mountains.   CREDITS Host: Nate Hegyi Reported, produced, and mixed by Felix Poon. Edited by Taylor Quimby. Our team also includes Justine Paradis. Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer. Music for this episode by Jay Varton, Rand Aldo, and Blue Dot Sessions. Theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Outside In, I'm Nate Hedgy. A couple of months ago, producer Felix Poon found himself watching

0:06.0

two tortoises getting a bit active underneath a coffee table.

0:11.3

So that is a red-footed tortoise, that's Pizza Man, and that is Sprockets that is a black Burmese mountain

0:16.7

tortoise.

0:17.7

Are they doing what I think they're doing or?

0:20.4

They are doing that, yeah.

0:21.8

Pizza Man is a very virile male and he enjoys his friends as much as he can.

0:30.0

That, by the way, is Alexia Bell. She runs something called the Turtle Rescue League

0:35.1

out of her house in Southbridge, Massachusetts,

0:37.9

which makes it sound like an amateur operation,

0:40.5

but I can assure you it is not.

0:43.0

We have a Blandings turtle, small painted turtles.

0:47.0

We have a red-haired slider.

0:48.0

They've got personalized polos, a turtle ambulance,

0:52.0

and inside the house looks part aquarium part animal hospital and it is packed to the

0:58.5

cloaca with turtles.

1:00.8

Most houses wouldn't be able to withstand this kind of weight.

1:03.5

They would break.

1:04.5

Simply from the weight of the turtles?

1:06.0

The weight of the water.

1:07.0

Of the water.

1:08.0

Downstairs there is probably 20,000 pounds of water. There are a lot of reasons why animals need rescuing.

...

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