HERNANDO TODAY (Florida) 05 April 08 On Turtle Pond (Tony Marrero)
Brooksville: To get at her shelled water dwellers, Linda Christian has to do what might be called her "turtle tuck."
The licensed wildlife rehabilitator bends her thin frame at the waist and crouches into a pen in the woods on her property off Mondon Hill Road, then dips her hand into a shallow, but murky, baby pool to take hold of a turtle.
Christian, founder of the nonprofit 100 Acre Wood Wildlife Rehabilitation Inc., has to constantly replace the water and clean the pool, which has no filter.
That means constant interruptions for the turtles, many of which are already stressed because of injury.
"Imagine someone running a Hoover around your house at 4 in the morning," Christian said. "It's not turtle friendly and it's not Linda friendly."
That will soon change.
Local businesses are helping Christian construct a state-of-the-art turtle pond on her property.
Suncoast Water Gardens in Spring Hill is designing and building the $6,500 pond and knocking $500 off that price.
From 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, Easy Street Home Decor in Brooksville will host a fundraiser featuring a silent auction. The store is at 838 E. Jefferson St.
The auction will include art and gift baskets, among other items. Merchandise bearing 100 Acre Wood logo also will be on sale.
Christian, who has a menagerie of mending animals ranging from ducks to deer and opossums to pigeons, has some money in the bank already to put toward the pond. The goal is raise enough in the coming weeks to get it built in the next month or so.
"The timing's perfect so we can get these guys out in the sun," Christian said Friday as she held a red-eared slider. The turtle, native to South America, had been turned over by a family who no longer wanted the animal as a pet.
John Ohling, who owns Suncoast Water Gardens with his wife Beverly, met Christian at a pet expo a couple of years ago in Brooksville and remembers being impressed by her passion.
When he heard she was trying to upgrade her turtle pond, he knew he had the technology for her.
"It's my way to be able to give back by doing the thing that I do best," Ohling said.
The pond will feature a biological filter that uses bacteria and enzymes to clean the waste, Ohling said.
"It's going to give her something a lot clearer, a lot cleaner and a lot healthier for the animals she's trying to save," Ohling said.
The pond will be built next to an existing pen for gopher tortoises in a sun-dappled spot near the outdoor classroom where Christian teaches local students about the work of a "rehabber." She is also organizing her first summer camp for children 12- to 16-years-old.
Christian has only gotten busier since the death of Judy Schwartz, a beloved Brooksville rehabber who died in a car crash in January 2006. Schwartz specialized in tortoises and turtles.
Now it's Christian who gets tortoises with cracked shells from run-ins with cars or, in the case of one tortoise with a bandage currently in residence, a horse's hoof.
"Every time I have a success (with an animal), especially when I thought it was going to go the other way, I think Judy must really be watching me and helping me," Christian said.
Dana Reuter said she and her two partners at Easy Street Home Decor are happy to help.
"Linda is one of the hardest working people I know," Reuter said. "This woman gives her life for these animals."
"It makes me feel good that I've got the support of the community," Christian said.
That support is key, because the animals keep coming and, Christian said, because of another maxim in wildlife rehabilitation: "No matter what you build, it's never big enough."
On Turtle Pond