THE EXAMINER (Peterborough, Ontario) 20 June 07 Editorial: Fate of dead mother turtle shows importance of signs

"I can't imagine how the driver could not have seen her."

"She was definitely dead and her eggs were scattered everywhere."

"She was well off the road, it had to have been deliberate."

These are some of the comments I heard from angry, upset neighbours when a snapping turtle who was nesting on the shoulder of a neighbourhood road was hit by a vehicle.

She lived here long before there were roads, let alone a paved busy road with blind corners and bridges with cement walls which ban her from the natural incline to Baxter Creek and the vegetation to hide in.

She lived here before any of the two legged creatures and laid her eggs each year in a nest of well drained gravel in an area that she had hatched from. She lived here at a time when nature was in balance and there wasn't an overpopulation of raccoons and skunks who feast annually on her eggs and all the other turtle eggs.

She slept in the mud of the creek all winter and in the spring, summer and fall foraged on the dead fish, beaver and muskrat and any other aquatic carcasses she could find, helping to keep the water clean. Then for one day each year she was compelled to come up out of the safety of her watery home and walk to where she was born 20 years ago, dig a hole, lay her 20 to 50 eggs, cover it and retreat back into the water. By her size she must have repeated this routine for 30 to 40 years and could have continued for another 40 to 50 years, thereby ensuring time for any of her female hatchings, who had escaped being road kill or food for land or water predators, to reach their 20 years of age and start to nest.

The loss of a turtle before it reaches its ripe old age has a major impact on the survival of the species. There are eight species of turtle in Ontario and six of them are listed as "species at risk"; the painted turtle and snapping turtle may follow.

The KIDS 4 TURTLES organization is teaching us the invaluable lesson of respect for this creature who has been with us since the time of the dinosaurs. Turtle Crossing signs promote awareness and I commend these children whole heartedly for all their hard work and perseverance. The KIDS 4 TURTLES organization deserves our full support. A humongous thank you goes out to each of them. They do our community proud.

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THE EXAMINER (Peterborough, Ontario) 20 June 07 Kids rally to try to save turtle cross signs (Brendan Wedley)

Turtle crossing signs can help save the reptiles from becoming road kill, a group of children who want the county to continue its use of the signs told The Examiner.

Kids for Turtles has a tough fight ahead. County council decided two weeks ago to stop installing warning signs other than standardized signs in the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which does not include turtle crossing signs.

At least a dozen children wearing bright yellow T-shirts went to the council meeting Wednesday to silently protest the decision.

Turtles need to be protected, said 13-year-old Cameron McNab, a Westmount Public School student.

"They're a really important part of our eco-system," he said.

Council invited the group to speak at its next meeting July 4.

County staff cited ongoing maintenance costs and the need to limit the number and type of signs installed in the municipal right of way next to roads as the reason to restrict the use of signs to the ones in the manual.

"We do get requests all the time for signs that do not meet the guidelines in the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices," public works director Chris Bradley said.

Turtle-crossing signs were put up along county roads in 2001 thanks to the efforts of a group of children. Kids for Turtles raised $4,000 for the signs and the county paid for the staff time and equipment to install them at certain locations.

Many of the signs have since been knocked down or stolen.

The county has received several letters from residents urging it to reverse its decision to stop using the turtle crossing signs.

Turtles in Ontario are in decline, with six of eight designated species at risk, and road mortality is the leading cause of mortality in turtles, McNab states.

"Five years ago we approached the council asking for support in our campaign to rescue such a vulnerable species. The council support us and even gave us an award for our efforts," he states.

"Now the council has reversed its position. We are betrayed, and hurt, by the shocking actions of the council that we are expected to vote for in future years."

McNab told The Examiner Kids for Turtles has a solution for every one of the problems the county cited when it decided to stop using the signs.

In Algonquin Provincial Park, for instance, the back of signs are greased to decrease theft, McNab said.

"At least if they're getting stolen by college students someone's looking at them on a wall and they're raising awareness that way," he said.

A biologist sent a letter to council to inform it about the issues that threaten turtle populations.

"Road mortality may end up being the most dominant factor in the decimation of turtle populations," said Scott Gillingwater, species at risk biologist for the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.

"The point is, turtle road crossing signs raise awareness, and in turn lessen the effects of road mortality. The work that children have done to maintain turtle populations in the Peterborough area should be fostered, publicized and awarded, not halted or ignored."

Bradley explained to council why moose and deer crossing signs are in the manual but not turtle crossing signs.

"They're installed because there is a danger for the motorist, there is a potential of the motorist being killed," he said.

Several council members said they support their original decision but would like to give Kids for Turtles a chance to make a presentation at the next council meeting.

"Obviously, we have members of Peterborough county who are very passionate about this issue," Douro-Dummer Reeve J. Murray Jones said.

"This in no way means the decision will or will not change," Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield Reeve Ron Millen said.

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