By Alexander Greensmith
LOVE HURTS: This man almost had his face ripped off when he gave this cute twenty-two-pound turtle a peck on the lips.
Footage captured a man tickling a common snapping turtle on its tummy before going in for a kiss.
However, he clearly misread the signals after the reptile clamped its jaws around his lip and left him screaming in agony.
Mediadrumimages/ Mike Ganley/ @bass_the_east
The funny footage was filmed on an iPhone by construction project manager and electrician Mike Ganley (28) from Massachusetts, USA. His electrician mate Matt (28) was the unfortunate victim of the video shot in, Burlington, USA.
“I was expecting blood to gush out but fortunately it wasn’t that bad,” said Mike.
“We were fishing but there was no fish because these four snapping turtles were eating them all.
Mediadrumimages/ Mike Ganley/ @bass_the_east
“So we were just hanging out and having a couple beers. Matt came up and was like ‘look at the size of all these turtles, do you think we could catch one’. So we put bait on the line, he grabbed the line and pulled it in.
“He started playing with it like a puppy. But then he got bit on his lip, which instantly swelled up and I thought there was going to be a massive cut or that it would be torn open.”
Mike’s friend was lucky, and has since made a swift recovery.
Mediadrumimages/ Mike Ganley/ @bass_the_east
The 17-second clip has amassed an amazing 183,000 views on Instagram as of July 2020.
While both survived the incident unscathed, perhaps the turtle will have the last laugh as research suggests the large freshwater turtle can live for over 100 years.
“No stitches were required and it just looked like a bad paper cut and healed a few days later,” added Mike.
Mediadrumimages/ Mike Ganley/ @bass_the_east
“We didn’t even take him to the emergency room, he just went home.”
You can follow the Mike on his Instagram on @bass_the_east.
