A horse’s placenta helps a turtle hit by a car heal with cracked, missing shell in DC

WASHINGTON (DC News now) – Three months after a car hit an eastern box turtle in Washington, severely damaging its shell, the wildlife rehabilitation center that works with it hopes it will return to the wild in 2025.

City Wildlife reported on the turtle’s injuries and its recovery process on the X platform on Friday. The series of thread posts included pictures of the turtle’s injuries and what it looked like at the time of the recovery update.

City Wildlife said the car hit the turtle in August as it crossed the road. The impact shattered most of her shell on the right side, exposing the lining of her body cavity. Rescuers said some parts of her tank were completely missing.

The posts say the group’s veterinary team put together a “program of medication, dressings and wound care to help this lovely lady heal.”

City Wildlife said its “secret weapon” came from Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue. It was horse placenta.

The rehabilitation center said the placenta came from rescued pregnant horses that gave birth at Gentle Giants. The cellular material in the placenta “provides a scaffold for the movement of turtle cells across the wound site and accelerates the growth of new, healthy cells in the wound.”

City Wildlife said injuries that could take more than a year to heal had made extraordinary progress within three months because of the “special ingredient”.

The wildlife center thanked its supporters and partners, including Gentle Giants. City Wildlife hopes to release the turtle in May if the weather is warm enough to return it to the wild.