One recent spring morning, Linda Nichols ’07 received two urgent texts: a snapping turtle was trying to cross the street near ’s campus.
“She had just moved off the median when I arrived,” Nichols said. “A car barely missed her.”
That turtle was lucky — many others ’t, and those injured animals often end up at Nichols’ front door.
By day, Nichols works in information technology. But ’s also a state-licensed wildlife rehabilitator and a master herpetologist. She started in wildlife rehabilitation more than four years ago with squirrels, bats and rabbits but transitioned into reptiles with a primary focus on turtles when she saw the need.
"There's the stigma of reptiles and amphibians as being gross and slimy and terrible. That's one reason whythere aren't very many reptile rehabbers,” Nichols said. “Wildlife rehab in general takes a certain stomach. But getting these animals that are just hit by cars — it's the heartbreak."
Nichols’ interest in biology pre-dates her turtle work – she minored in the subject at and has recently returned to take more classes.
“It turns out ecology is what I'm really interested in,” she said. “ has professors that have done amazing field work, and I feel lucky to be so close; I want to take advantage of that."
Conservation also drives her as a wildlife rescuer, and on days when ’s tired or frustrated she reminds herself of the important role the animals play in the ecosystem.
The turtles Nichols receives are sick or injured with cracked shells, bulging eyes and abscessed ears. They’ve been hit by vehicles, whacked by lawn equipment or are suffering the effects of herbicides or vitamin deficiencies.
They range from quarter-sized hatchlings to Love Muffin, an adult snapping turtle the size of a punch bowl.
Sometimes ٳ’r not even turtles – like Lieutenant Dan, the Southern leopard frog with paralyzed legs, or Orthos, the five-lined skink attacked by a cat.
Most of her patients live on the third floor of her home in Norfolk, Virginia, in what was meant to be a guest suite until turtle season arrived — and never left.
A large bathroom provides a triage and quarantine area, and underfloor heating in a converted office keeps her turtles, frogs and geckos warm year-round.
Light, heat and humidity are crucial, as is diet. Turtles get gourmet salads with leafy greens, sweet potatoesand eggshells. She also raises meal worms and flightless fruit flies for the other reptiles and amphibians.
Susie, a box turtle kept as a pet for nearly two decades, shows the damage captivity can cause: pale eyes, a malformed beak and a too-small, lumpy shell. Unlike many of Nichols’ patients, Susie’s return to the wild is uncertain.
“I Dz’t want to keep any of them,” Nichols said. “The worst thing the vet can say is ‘non-releasable.’”
Spring is Nichols’ busiest time of year as turtles begin to stir from a winter semi-slumber called brumation. Digging out from under leaf litter, logs or wherever they holed up for the colder months, ٳ’r on the move looking for food, a mate and nesting sites. Too often they encounter roadways and other hazards.
In 2024, she cared for 200 animals — 50 of those spent the winter in her care. Last Memorial Day weekend, she took in 24 turtles hit by cars.
“A lot of people can't handle the medical piece,” Nichols said of the challenges facing wildlife rescuers. She’s learned basic shell repair and administers wound care and medications under the guidance of her veterinarian. “I get turtles that are crushed.”
But turtles are amazingly resilient.
A couple once brought in a box turtle with a nearly severed leg — the worst injury they’d ever seen. Nichols, more seasoned, knew it could be amputated by her veterinarian and the turtle, Koopa Troopa, could recover.
Other injuries, like head trauma, can be harder to spot but more severe. Animals that cannot be rehabilitated are humanely euthanized.
"I try to be honest with them about what I think the prognosis is going to be,” Nichols said of the concerned homeowners and good Samaritans who drop off injured animals. “But what people might think is a fatal injury isn't a lot of times to me. "
Nichols is “absolutely amazing with the turtles,” said Meredith Broadhurst, president of Evelyn’s Wildlife Refuge and Tidewater Wildlife Rescue, a Hampton Roads-based hotline.
Broadhurst hosted the workshop that introduced Nichols to wildlife rehabilitation and sponsored her early work with squirrels. “Now ’s one of my main turtle rehabbers,” Broadhurst said.
Nichols is one of 43 wildlife rehabilitators associated with Evelyn’s Wildlife Refuge and one of about four permitted to care for turtles. Rehabilitating wildlife is a commitment of time and resources, Broadhurst said. “We're a special breed — you have to be to be able to do this to this extent.”
Broadhurst tells her rehabbers that care for wildlife is a matter of quality, not quantity, but Nichols manages to achieve both. “Sometimes I feel like when she posts pictures of her turtle food (on Facebook), it's better than what I eat,” Broadhurst said.
She also noted Nichols’ dedication to continuing education. Virginia is home to 20 native water and land turtles, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society (not including five species of sea turtles), and Nichols must know — or learn — about the specific needs of the animals that arrive for her care.
“If you don't know what you're doing and you don't have the proper lighting, husbandry and nutrition, you could innocently make them worse than what they came in for,” Broadhurst said. A rehabber’s mission is always to return the animals to the wild. “We're giving these animals a second chance.”
Of the many patients Nichols has cared for, it's the cases on either end of the spectrum that stick in her memory: the ones she thought would survive but 徱’t and those who made it against the odds and are released to the wild.
If the animals are grateful, they Dz’t show it.
“They Dz’t look back,” Nichols said.
Want to help? Contact Evelyn’s Wildlife Refuge: 757-434-3439 or evelynswildlife@gmail.com.
Ways you help conserve and protect turtles and other wild animals.
- Don’t take them home. Leave wild turtles in the wild.
- Don’t relocate turtles. If safe, move it off the road in the direction it’s moving.
- Discard fishing line and other trash appropriately.
- Don’t leave crab pots in the water unattended for more than 24 hours and use a by-catch reduction device.
- Create turtle-friendly habitats at your home or business.
- Avoid mowing tall grass during the active period for turtles.
- Grow native plant species on your property.
- Avoid burning long-standing brush piles during the winter.
- Support efforts to establish and protect natural areas.
- Recycle and practice energy conservation.
- Join or donate to a conservation organization.
- DO NOT RELEASE PET TURTLES (or any species of pet).
(Source Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources)
