If you were crossing the U.S. 98 Causeway over Mobile Bay yesterday afternoon, you might have caught sight of a man, tall and bearded, running down the side of the highway carrying a giant turtle.

I happened to see just such a sight and pulled over immediately, quite close to the osprey nesting platform just about in the middle of the run across the bay. At first I got out of my truck and was walking toward the turtle and man to offer assistance, but it quickly became apparent pair were having something of a struggle.

Not only did the turtle weigh about 50 pounds, but it was far from dead. It's arms and legs scrambled in the air as it tried to find a purchase and escape its apparent captor. The neck reached back impossibly far trying to bite the poor fellow. I could see the turtle's mouth snapping shut as it wriggled.

Every few dozen steps, turtle man had to set his burden down. He'd trot twenty yards, then put the turtle down, rest and wrestle him back up into his arms and trot some more. He had covered about a hundred yards in this fashion. Recognizing that he still had an awfully long way to go, I threw the truck in reverse and backed down the side of the road to him. I could see there was a lot of blood on the turtle and the man as I approached.

When I got out, he set his turtle down and blurted out, "I'm a biologist."

The way he said it, it seemed for a moment like he might be worried I thought he was a turtle thief rather than a turtle rescuer. But given the blood on the turtle's body, the long bit of shell where it's skin had been torn off, and the number of dead turtles I've seen on this stretch of road, I knew right away it was a rescue.

I mentioned the skin that had been torn off the shell, and that's just what I meant, for this was a softshell turtle. Rather than the hard and tough shell on most turtles, made up of a series of armored plates that fit tightly together, the softshell has a flat, leathery, pliable shell, covered in a layer of skin. It is a genetic adaption that gives softshells two significant advantages. They are much more agile swimmers than most turtles, and can move much faster over land than their rigid-bodied cousins.

Softshells are quite common in coastal Alabama, and are one of the dominant turtles in Florida and southern Georgia waters. They are, to be fair, a little creepy looking, owing mostly to their extended snouts. Those long noses work as snorkels for breathing while their bodies and heads are entirely submerged. With an exceptionally long neck among turtle species, a softshell can lie camouflaged and buried in the mud in water up to a foot deep, with just their noses protruding above the surface.

This comes in useful for their hunting. Softshells are carnivores, and eat fish, crawfish, bugs, and anything else they can catch. Their advanced swimming abilities mean they can catch even fast swimming animals.

The males usually top out at about 14 inches, but the females can reach more than two feet long across the shell. Only the alligator snapping turtle gets larger. One female was reported to have reached a weight of 96 pounds. They live up to 30 years. The big ones are capable of removing digits, and even hands.

Clearly, due to the immense size, turtle man's rescued animal was a female, possibly, given the time of year, trying to cross the road in search of a high spot to lay. Many years ago, a "turtle fence" about 18 inches high was erected along the edges of the Causeway to prevent the roadkill deaths of endangered Alabama red-bellied slider turtles as they tried to cross the Causeway for nesting spots. It looks like this big girl was just tall enough to scale that fence and get hit by a car.

With the softshell safely in the bed of my truck, we headed for the state's Five Rivers facility on the edge of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Manager Hank Burch met us out front with a team of biologists and a cage for the turtle.

"Wow! That's the biggest softshell turtle I've ever seen," Burch said, something that would be echoed by every member of his staff who saw the turtle.

Surprisingly, I can report a happy ending. The turtle not only survived its brush with highway traffic, but it has already been treated and released. From Five Rivers, it was delivered to the Mobile County Environmental Studies Center where biologist Susan Clement took care of it.

"It looked like a bloody mess when it came in. There was blood all over its neck, around its mouth, on its arms. But once it was cleaned up, it turned out to be fine. It was so big! It was about three feet long," Clement said. "I don't know how he carried it. Those things are so frigging mean. They're really slick, and the shell being so soft, they're just really tough to hold on to. That neck is so long and they can whip it around and get you. I fear them more than the alligator snappers because the softshell are so fast. I think they are our most aggressive turtle."

Clement said the turtle was delivered back to Five Rivers and released into the Delta, well away from the Causeway.

"Everything looked good, and it seemed like she was fine. So we told them to go ahead and release it. I'm glad. Those things are scary," Clement said. "Hopefully she's going to find a nice place back there and lay her eggs."

The true hero of this story is Zach Steele, who fearlessly picked up a truly frightening beast, literally capable of snapping off fingers or tearing out huge bits of flesh. Fortunately for the turtle, Zach is a biologist and had studied and handled several species of turtles in college. He works at the Gulf Coast Exploreum as an education coordinator.

Here's Zach's tale in his own words: "I was on my way home on the Causeway, and I saw this big pool of blood. I could see (the turtle) lying next to the pool of blood, but it was far enough away I couldn't tell if he was alive. As I got closer, I saw him moving closer to the road, so he was alive. I pulled over about three hundred yards down the road in a little parking area and I ran back to him to pull him out of the road. He was still alive. I don't know how. There was just a ton of blood.

I tried to examine him, and couldn't find any breaks in his shell. He was trying to bite me and I was having a really hard time holding on to him. He was really heavy. I've got a Labrador at home, and I'd way rather carry that dog than that turtle."