(WHDH) — An animal enthusiast on the verge of celebrating his thirteenth birthday drowned earlier this week while attempting to return a turtle to a retention pond at the apartment complex where he lived.
The body of Dylun Tapio, 12, of Wisconsin, was pulled from a pond at the Lamplighter Apartments in Kaukauna on Tuesday night, according to WBAY.
A good Samaritan that found the turtle wandering on a nearby roadway placed it in Tapio’s yard. The boy was on a mission to return it to the pond with his four brothers — ages 7, 11, 11 and 12.
“Dylun asked me if it was OK if he could bring it down to the pond and I told him it was OK,” the boy’s mother, Tia Tapio told the news outlet.
Three of the boys ended up struggling to swim in a deep section of the pond. A boy remaining on shore called for help and two of the brothers were rescued.
No one saw Tapio go under and he spent up to two hours in the water before a dive team found his body, according to authorities. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Tapio would have turned 13 on Thursday.
“He loved animals. He loved dinosaurs, he loves frogs. He loves anything to do with nature,” Tia Tapio said.
The Tapio family is now urging the town to put a fence around the pond.
An investigation is ongoing.
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