05/29/2026
It is with heavy hearts that Potomac Overlook says goodbye to our resident common snapping turtle, Shelby, who passed away earlier this week. Shelby was an education animal at our nature center since the summer of 2019, where she was a star attraction for thousands of school children, campers, visitors, and anyone else who got a chance to see her. Despite her species’ fearsome reputation, Shelby was relatively docile and quite curious about those who came to look at her in her aquatic tank, and quickly became a favorite of the team who worked with her. While she was rarely used by our staff for animal presentations due to the challenges of handling her, she was a major hit at our feeding programs, where she frequently left visitors in awe at the speed of which she would strike at and gobble up her food. Sadly, Shelby’s health had declined in recent months due to a rare fungal disease, and despite multiple treatments, her prognosis did not improve. She helped to educate countless people on snapping turtles, whether it was their importance to their ecosystems, their amazing adaptations, or the ways we can protect them. We remember Shelby for the “WOW” she elicited from many visitors, her fondness for basking under her heat lamp, and (in the words of our staff) for being our “little dinosaur”. She will be missed.
