65-Pound Alligator Snapping Turtle Named 'Lord Fairfax' Found Wandering In Alexandria

[mahatmakanejeeves]

JUN 15, 5:54 PM

65-Pound Alligator Snapping Turtle Named ‘Lord Fairfax’ Found Wandering In Alexandria
Natalie Delgadillo



Lord Fairfax, harbinger of doom, after he was found chilling near a residential pond in Alexandria.

Virginia Department of Game and Island Fisheries / Facebook

When future civilizations scour the historical events of 2020 for signs of a coming collapse, they’ll have quite a list to draw from. On that list will be the day that a 65-pound alligator snapping turtle was discovered lumbering around a residential neighborhood in Alexandria.

Tell me this maw doesn’t look to you like a harbinger of doom:

{snip the Facebook post}

On June 11, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries posted on its Facebook account about the giant turtle, which handlers aptly named Lord Fairfax. DGIF received a call from Fairfax Animal Control about the animal hanging out around a residential pond.

{snip}

Because he is likely captive-bred, Lord Fairfax can never be returned to the wild. A DGIF biologist picked him up near the pond where he was seen surveying his environs, and the turtle was given to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, where he may become part of a new exhibit, per the department.

[appalachiablue]

1. Big boy Lord Fairfax was getting by quite well

all those years, in Alexandria and wherever else he lived.

When we were little kids, dad and uncles would tease us about the 'snapping turtles' in a large freshwater pond where they fished and we swam. Sure enough we kids were on the lookout, or toe-out when swimming. Man in open nature, the ideal environment.

- Alligator snapping turtle v. the standard snapping turtle.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Lord Fairfax was lucky to be found, reports @postmetrogirl .

Lord Fairfax was lucky to be found, reports
@postmetrogirl
. If it had not been, it probably would have faced a slow death from cold or starvation.

Link to tweet