A video of a man rescuing a sizable snapping turtle stuck in a drainpipe has gone on to receive over 27 million views on TikTok.
But while TikToker Zebadiah (@zebadiah528) was documented bringing the animal to safety, his video resulted in equal amounts of praise and criticism in the comments.
As Zebadiah said in the video's caption, he and his daughter were simply walking his pond when he noticed the snapping turtle stuck in an overflow drain.
"Just out here saving turtles, the fun never ends!"
" I’m so glad my daughter and I decided to take a walk around our flooded pond."
"He had been stuck for over 2 hours before we found him!"
Zebadiah had his daughter record the two-and-a-half minute video, which captured him putting up quite the struggle to set the turtle free, using both a rope and his bare hands.
Zebadiah expressed his sympathy for the unfortunate turtle in the video's caption, saying "poor little guy."
However snapping turtles of sufficient size can easily amputate human fingers, so don't try this at home folks.
As Zebadiah would later mention in the comment section, there had been unusually high amounts of rain causing the pond to rise significantly.
The drain in which the turtle was stuck was specifically built in case of a significant increase of water.
Several TikToker's applauded Zebadiah's heroics, as well as his daughter for documenting.
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@zebadiah528/TikTok
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@zebadiah528/TikTok
However, others didn't see anything to celebrate in the video, criticizing Zebadiah for not having some sort of cover over the pipe to prevent the turtle and other animals from getting stuck or sucked in.
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@zebadiah528/TikTok
@zebadiah528/TikTok
@zebadiah528/TikTok
@zebadiah528/TikTok
In response to all the negative responses to his rescue video, Zebadiah subsequently posted a follow-up video explaining exactly why he didn't put any sort of gate or blockage over the drainpipe.
As he said in the video's caption, Zebadiah hoped the follow up video would help "people who commented on my last video understand."
Adorned with the overlay "Explaining why I didn't close the drain", Zebadiah used the 30-second video as an opportunity to point out the drain in which the turtle was caught was an overflow drain, also showing where all the water which falls into the overflow drain comes out.
He also made it clear the valve, which many questioned why he didn't close in the first place, was unrelated to the overflow drain, and wouldn't have been any help in saving the turtle.
But even with his explanation, TikTokers still weren't convinced there weren't preventative measures to stop the turtle from getting stuck.
@zebadiah528/TikTok
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The second onslaught of criticism forced Zebadiah to further explain why chains and chicken wire would do no good in the comments.
@zebadiah528/TikTok
@zebadiah528/TikTok
But Zebadiah did receive praise with many sharing in his frustration of having to explain his situation.
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One hopes all the criticism he received won't stop Zebadiah from saving distressed animals in the future.
Though it's understandable if he won't feel compelled to post videos of any further rescues on TikTok.
@JamesTate121/X
