Posted by bloomindaedalus on May 02, 2003 at 12:03:51:
So i saw the huge softshell on the Walt Disney World property again this week. This is the third year in a row. I was unable to measure her but in the past she was at 23 inches (of course i don'r have a pic, i hope to get one if i can recapture her when i return to Florida in the summer). I was never able to weigh her but i'd guess she was in the 40 pound range. She's really a monster. I am in the process of trying to locate the correct personnel of the Disney staff to see if she can be taken to a facility where she can be documented and perhaps protected. She and about twenty other florida softshells are living in a pond which is dangerously close to a bust street. The animals there are fed all sorts of things by children and other passers-by. (french fries and napkins seem to be a popular "feeding item" I'd like to see her kept somewhere safe but Florida does not protect this species. I think that if she continues to thrive in protected quarters she may prove a record size for the species. Anybody have any Disney "connections" or any ideas?
