Gruesomely attacked by someone unimaginably cruel, this old turtle approached the Illinois home of Paul and Diane Tuttle with a screwdriver still sticking from her back. Her skull was also fractured and she was blinded in one eye, but somehow she knew this couple wouldn’t hurt her.

“It never snapped at us,” Paul told the Journal Star last September. “It was calm.” The turtle was hurried to the All Pets Vet Clinic for treatment. Her shell was plugged with fiberglass. Later, Douglas Holmes, a herpetologist from the Peoria Zoo, volunteered to take the turtle, named Tuttle, into his home to care for her during the winter.

Last weekend, after 9 months of recovery, Tuttle was finally released back where she belongs – into the wild. Though it might be challenging as the turtle, who is about 70 years old, still lacks half of her vision in the right eye, it was the right thing to do. She was released to a remote, marshy area where she couldn’t be threatened anymore. “Animals deserve that chance,” Holmes added. “It always feels good when you see an animal go free.”

More info: Facebook (h/t: thedodo, pjstar)

This badly injured turtle with a screwdriver still sticking from her back approached a couple outside their home

They rushed the poor critter to a vet clinic where she was treated for a fractured shell and skull, as well as a blinded eye

Later, a zoologist Douglas Holmes volunteered to take the turtle into his home to care for her during the winter

Last weekend, after 9 months of recovery, the turtle was finally released back into the wild

“Animals deserve that chance,” said Holmes. “It always feels good when you see an animal go free”

Unfortunately, the person responsible for the attack has not been found

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