Visiting box turtle has shell and leg scars

A box turtle showed up in our yard. A dent in its shell looked like a wound caused by a mower.

Freddie the dog inspects the visitor.

When it finally came out of its shell, you could see that its front leg was missing toes.

Scars didn't slow this turtle with a seriously cute face.

Before I took the box turtle to a woody area behind our house safe from mowers, I looked online to check the turtle's ID and discovered that TPWD is conducting a Box Turtle Survey Project.

It looks like an Eastern (Three-Toed) Box Turtle. Growing up in West Texas, we called them terrapins.

I logged our visitor into the the survey. Maybe this Slap Out Gully turtle will contribute something to the citizen science project. Or I would like to think maybe it will be found 50 years from now, perhaps 500 miles away, continuing its journey.