This has been an animal encounter week for me, although one incident was not actually an encounter but instead time to laugh while someone else had the encounter.

Saturday morning I left home headed to Mount Airy for work. A mile or so up the road from my house, a pickup truck passed me.

Now at first I thought a black dog was in the back of the truck, but then as the vehicle got beside me I realized it was no canine — it was a black bear. Not a cute little teddy bear, but a life-size real black bear riding in the back of the white truck.

Maybe I should explain now that the bear, unfortunately for it, was not alive. It had been taxidermied and mounted in a pose on all four legs with a look on its face like it was calling to another bear somewhere in the woods.

I have seen large bears and other animals stuffed and mounted, but I can’t say that I have ever seen one taking a ride down the road with people who I presume were its owners.

If that wasn’t enough, during the afternoon hours while I was in the office working I was manning the scanner as we often do in case of a major incident like a fire, wreck or armed robbery, etc.

I’ve heard strange things on the scanner in my eight years working in the newspaper business, but this was a first for me.

One of the dispatchers came across the airwaves to let a deputy know that a large snapping turtle was crossing Rockford Street in front of Neighbors toward Golden Corral.

While this could be a very serious matter for drivers, the size of snapping turtles could easily cause a traffic accident or a pedestrian could be injured by the animal, just the shock of getting a call like that probably had the dispatcher doing all she could to hold in her laughter, as I was fighting to do as well as I heard the call.

The deputy also found the humor in the situation, wanting to know what he was supposed to do about it. Then a minute later, offering his services to ride through the area and see what he could find.

Myself, all I could think of was the poor lost turtle wandering among these large human machines and trying not to get run over.

Then I thought of the classic question of “Why did the turtle cross the road?” “To get to the Golden Corral buffet,” was my answer. It would make a great commercial, don’t you think?

A few days ago, a box turtle was walking through my gravel driveway. It had finally quit raining after days of wet weather and was warm in the sun, so I guess he or she was searching for a warm spot to sunbathe. Better my yard or driveway than the asphalt highway.

Yes, I’ve been known to stop on the side of the road to move a poor, innocent turtle out of harm’s way, as I’m sure many of you have.

Well, Tuesday morning when I was loading my car to head to work, I spotted what has apparently become my pet box turtle in the yard near the same area I saw him in last week.

Again, he was just sitting there in the freshly mowed grass sunbathing.

Animals are no stranger to me, with 30 or 40 goats, a donkey, a mule on loan, three ducks, two cats and a dog, it is like a petting zoo all the time at my house. Not to mention the two cats, two dogs and pet turtle who all hang out at my neighboring in-laws’ house.

I guess they just tend to gravitate my way. And while I can’t handle many more pets at the moment, all I can say is keep the strange animal occurrences coming. They make for great stories to tell friends and family.

Just don’t drop the snapping turtle off at my place. I don’t want to lose any fingers or toes.

Wendy Byerly Wood is the associate editor of The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at wbyerly-wood@mtairynews.com or 719-1923.