animal rescue

Not all heroes wear capes, but some of them wear Crocs. When comedian Doug Lussenhop started his day on the thick, humid Gulf Coast of Florida, he had no idea he'd become the hero to two unsuspecting Florida Cooter turtles.

Lussenhop, who professionally goes by the name DJ Douggpound, is a self-described "joke-DJ" and has been part of the Los Angeles comedy scene for years. He's also a highly esteemed film and TV editor, musician, and podcaster—most known for his work on Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker.(He and Heidecker have worked together on many projects, including Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!)

Heidecker brought Lussenhop along as one of the opening acts on his latest Slipping Away tour. As a highly seasoned touring comedian (Lussenhop has also opened for Tenacious D and, more recently, Eric Andre), he loves to seize each day of travel and truly get down in the dirt in whatever town he's in.

But he especially likes ponds—and all the critters that come with them. So, he found one in St. Petersburg on a rainy day before a show. He exclusively told Upworthy, "We usually have time during the day before sound check. So I got a Lime scooter and was cruising around. I found a pond and there were some crocodiles in there. And then I went to this storm drain, and I saw there was a turtle swimming down there, like in a concrete waterfall. And I thought that thing is never getting out of there."

He looked around for a solution. "I scoured the neighborhood for a 2x6 piece of wood. There was construction nearby and I was gonna just sneak in there and steal a piece of wood to make a ramp so the turtle could just climb out. But there was always someone looking at me and I didn't have the balls to do it. And then I think we had sound check."

A close up of a turtle on a log. Photo by Theo Aartsma on Unsplash

Lussenhop returned to the venue but simply couldn't stop thinking about those turtles. "It was eating away at me. I knew I could get those turtles out of there." He told Josh, the band's drummer, and showed him a video of the turtle in the storm drain. "It got stuck in my craw."

Being a man of action, he decided he had to do something about it. "After sound check, I put on my Crocs and went back to the turtles. It was really scary because it had started raining, and water was gushing into that storm drain. I couldn't see where the turtles were!"

In the video, Lussenhop recounts how earlier in the day, he had been "looking at the wildlife." He ominously flashes back to his gator sighting and adds, "I saw a turtle or two that went down this storm drain. So I'm gonna go try to get that turtle out of there."

Some language in this video may not be suitable for a younger audience.

Back to Mirror Lake he goes, and this is when the exciting action music begins. He finds the spot. "The water is raging now," he says. "This is f----d." His legs dangle over the drain where the white, foamy water is rising by the second. "Where is he? I think he swam away." And then he sees the turtle. Now climbing even further into the waterfall, knowing those gators might be lurking, he says, "I've made it this far." He jumps all the way in. "Where is he? I'm here to help, dude."

He reaches his arm in and…"I've got one of 'em!" He pulls out a large turtle and gently puts him back into the pond. But wait! Lussenhop thinks there's another turtle down there. He tries blocking the cascading water to get a better view. "C'mon bro," he beckons. And as the music swells alongside the water, a huge turtle pops up for air and Lussenhop is able to grab him. "Oh my God, he's f-----g huge!" He gently gives the turtle a little push back into the pond to join his reptile friend.

But now Lussenhop has to get himself out of the sewer. As he tries to scale back up, his GoPro camera falls off and into the water. He's able to fish it out and propel himself back on land, only to find a couple of fishermen nearby who don't even seem to notice the whole ordeal.

Lussenhop admits, "Well, I hope that dumbass turtle doesn't go back down in that sewer." He then displays a beautiful picture of a turtle swimming with the voiceover, "Turtles are special. But they are stupid. We must protect them." This is followed by an illustration of a tiny fence at the top of the storm drain, which would prevent them from falling in. "Would this be so hard?" the VO proposes.

Doug excitedly shares the news with the band.

Post turtle rescue youtu.be, Doug Lussenhop

As a lifelong lover and advocate for turtles, Lussenhop was happy to help. "When I was a kid, I was kind of obsessed with turtles. Ever since my first pet turtle died, I go out of my way to help them." He was especially thrilled that a few people reached out after the rescue video was posted. One guy was part of a Florida ecological group, and though the pond wasn't in his jurisdiction, Lussenhop asked if he would pass along the request to "make the grates a little taller."

"If I ever get down to Florida again, I'll rig something up. At least some kind of ramp or maybe buy some chicken wire and just strap it along there."