Giant Snapping Turtle Mysteriously Vanishes in North Carolina

A 100-year-old snapping turtle has mysteriously disappeared without a trace while on a vehicle ride with its owner.

The turtle named Thanos disappeared while he and his owner, Dan Hemby, were traveling down an interstate in North Carolina.

Hemby told local news station ABC11 that they had been on their way to the Durham Reptile Expo when he realized his beloved pet was not with him anymore. They were only half an hour away from their final destination when he realized the turtle's traveling container was empty and Thanos was nowhere to be seen.

The turtle had been strapped in tightly, making it nearly impossible for him to free himself. This is why Hemby believes his pet was stolen.

"It's almost like losing a piece of myself, to be honest with you," he told ABC11.

Although exactly where the turtle vanished is a mystery, Hemby suspects Thanos was stolen when they stopped at a rest stop near Benson. This was the last time Hemby checked on Thanos before realizing he was missing.

"If you see him, please let us know. Be careful. Do not handle him," Hemby told the news outlet. "He couldn't go out as far as regular turtles or regular common snappers. If somebody stole him, please just get him home or just make sure he's safe."

Alligator snapping turtles are native to freshwater lakes and rivers in the southeast United States. Males, like Thanos, tend to grow much larger than females. They can grow up to 220 pounds and have powerful jaws with a bite force of 1,000 pounds, meaning they can be dangerous to handle.

This is enough of a bite force to chop off a human finger. However, they do not seek to hurt humans.

Thanos weighs between 140 and 180 pounds and is bright yellow in color, ABC11 reported.

Hemby looked along the highway to see if he could find evidence that the snapping turtle had fallen out of the car, but he did not see any blood marks. It is likely that if the snapping turtle escaped, he would probably head for water first, Hemby told the news outlet.

In the wild, alligator snapping turtles are threatened. An estimated 360,000 are still living across 12 states; however, without protection, the population could decline to just 5 percent in several decades, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported.

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