The Turtle Guy

The Turtle Guy By Jim Holt
Signal Staff Writer Tuesday September 18, 2007 Someone gave Mitchell Bolt a gag gift for his birthday. It was a turtle. And, the turtle changed his life. Overnight, Mitchell Bolt went from being Mitchell Bolt middle-aged guy, to Mitchell Bolt – The Turtle Guy. “I had no interest in turtles or tortoises,” he said. “Then I went to a meeting of the Bakersfield Turtle and Tortoise Club and, after a brief sketchy presentation made by the president, something clicked. “I fell in love with sea turtles,” he said. On Saturday, scores of kids in Newhall Park got their faces painted and jumped inside inflatable bounce houses as part of the day-long activities billed as Day For Kids, filed by an information booth run by The Turtle Guy, AKA Mitchell Bolt. The kids found no turtle at The Turtle Guy booth. What they did find, however, was plenty of disturbing information about how they can help protect turtles from drag net fishing. And, while listening to turtle information may not have been as intriguing as tapping the hard shell of the creature itself, Bolt is hoping to return to Valencia from his home in Bakersfield and bring his turtle, Baby Snapea, for Valencia kids to see and touch. He wants elementary students to learn about the plight of sea turtles but he also wants them to see and touch them. What began as an interest in sea turtles, led to the Sea Turtle Restoration Project and, ultimately, to the doors of elementary school classrooms Michelle Vasquez teaches grade one at Meadows Elementary School. On Saturday, her 4-year-old son, Mateo, came home from Newhall Park Saturday with questions about turtles. He handed his mom a pamphlet on sea turtles that contained a photograph of a turtle caught in a drag net, a net meant to capture fish. “The Turtle Guy influenced my son’s interest in protecting turtles,” Vasquez said Monday. “He was so sad when he saw the picture of the man stealing the turtle’s eggs. He was disturbed by that and he asked me what we can do.” Bolt, in an interview prior to his visit to Newhall Park, said he doesn’t sugar-coat his talk about the dire plight of sea turtles. “I’m brutally honest with kids,” Bolt said. “My message is quite strong, it’s a very hard-line message and people are kind of surprised by it but they let me do my own thing. My message is what I teach and it’s what I advocate. “When it comes to sea turtles, I want people to say ‘He gives the truth’ and the truth is not always pretty. My job is to touch people emotionally and inspire them to make better choices in the future,” he said. Some of those choices include: eat less shrimp since shrimp are a mainstay of the turtle diet. control helium balloons and don’t allow them to drift away. Deflated balloons that drift out over the ocean can choke sea turtles that mistake them for jellyfish. buy no items made of turtle shell. Meadows Principal Chad Rose said this year’s roster of special guest speakers is a dance card that’s already full. “We’re booked for this year, but it sounds interesting and relevant so it’s definitely something we’d take a look at,” he said. Anyone interested in having The Turtle Guy speak about turtles as part of a special presentation can reach Mitchell Bolt through Daphne Plump at 661-478-6512 or by email at schedule@….