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Calif. ‘traffic-hazard turtle’ vanishes before cops arrive

Two Chico police officers arrived in the vicinity of the turtle sighting and declared the creature gone on arrival

Chico Enterprise-Record

CHICO, Calif. — When a Chico police dispatcher came on the air at about 9 a.m. Friday, the situation was potentially deadly for a turtle.

Someone had reported that a large turtle was trying to cross the Skyway, a half-mile uphill from Bruce Road.

The radio call described the turtle’s attempted crossing as a “traffic hazard,” but the possibility of it being deadly for the turtle, and messy, loomed large.

Two Chico police officers arrived in the vicinity of the turtle sighting and parked, lights flashing, at the side of the Skyway.

There was no sign of the turtle living or spread and the officers declared the creature was “GOA,” radio shorthand for gone on arrival.

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