Tiny Turtle Thrown in the Trash Reunited with Family

Tuesday, ten-year-old Carley Helm and her two sisters, Rebecca and Annie were on their way home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin from a visit with their father in Atlanta, Georgia.  On a side trip to South Carolina, Carley saw a coin-sized turtle in a souvenir shop.  Her father bought the turtle for her and she named it Neytiri.

When the girls were ready to go home to Milwaukee, Carley thought it would be fine if she took the tiny turtle on the plane with her.  AirTran officials didn't seem to mind either, at first.  As the plane was taxiing, it was called back and the turtle removed from the plane because of a no-reptiles rule AirTran, like most other airlines, have in place. 

Rebecca Helm insists AirTran staff told her to throw the tiny turtle away--something they deny.  Rebecca called their father and he was on his way to the airport to get Neytiri the Turtle.  According to Rebecca, airline staff refused to contact her father to make transfer arrangements so she set Neytiri, tank and all down in a trash bin.  She hoped that if the turtle was left there, her father could retrieve the tiny turtle.

However, when William Helm arrived at the airport, he nor airline employees couldn't find the reptile.  Another AirTran employee had fished the turtle out of the trash, handed it off to a co-worker who had taken it home as a pet for their son.

Neytiri was retrieved and the little boy who thought he had a Yellow-Eared Slider was given two replacement turtles for his loss.  AirTran sent the coin-sized Neytiri to Milwaukee free of charge--in the cargo hold.

I'm so very happy that Neytiri is safely back with her family.  What I'd like to know?  If the airline had no problem sending the turtle to Milwaukee in the cargo hold of the plane the second time around, why all the hubbub originally?  It sure would have spared Carley and her little turtle a lot of misery.

For further details about this story with a very happy ending and to see pictures of the too cute for words Neytiri the Turtle, refer to this article.