Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OTTAWA CITIZEN (Ontario) 25 June 04 Why did the turtle cross the road?: Annual trek to nesting sites can turn highways into reptilian carnage (Tom Spears)
To lay its eggs, of course
Turtles are leaving this region's ponds and streams to lay eggs this week, a seasonal instinct that makes them crawl across roads and get flattened by cars pretty regularly every June.
Here's a tip: By all means help them across the road and out of harm's way, but wash your hands right afterwards.
Here's another tip: Leave the snappers alone.
This month is egg-laying time, naturalist Dan Brunton explains. Turtles are emerging from ponds and shallow waters all across this region looking for a place on dry land for a nest.
"The ones that are coming up on the roads now are overwhelmingly painted turtles, the common pond turtles," he says. There are also a few Blanding's turtles, which are less common, and the big snappers.
"Their biological clocks are telling them you do this in June. But they also wait for perfect conditions."
Like gardeners, they like to come out after it has rained, leaving the soil soft enough to dig holes for the eggs.
Commonly, the egg-laying sites are not right beside the ponds where the animals live. Eggs have to be laid in drier conditions, and this means travelling. The eggs will hatch in the fall.
"If people see turtles on the road, ideally they can park safely and get the turtle off the road without injuring themselves. More than a few people in Ontario have died doing that," Mr. Brunton said.
Then you should wash your hands, quick.
"They've had this terrible record -- at least pet-store turtles have -- of carrying salmonella. That's why you can't buy them in pet stores any more."
One more tip: "Just move it in the direction it was going. Sometimes people say, 'Oh there's a pond over there,' and point it that way. And maybe it just came out of that pond. Then put it off on the edge and leave it alone."
There's no shortage of painted or snapping turtles in this region, he says.
He advises people to leave snapping turtles alone unless they're very small because they're truly dangerous. They have powerful jaws. This spring he found one turtle behind Regina Public School in the Lincoln Heights neighbourhood that was more than a metre long.

WHIG-STANDARD (Kingston, Ontario) 25 June 04 A tale of two turtles (Jo-Anne Parker)
In an area near the Frontenac Mall, I recently saw a mommy turtle about one foot in diameter beside the place where she'd laid her eggs. She must have already had one batch of babies because there were broken shells just past where she was sitting in the path. When I returned to go to my car, the turtle had turned around to face me.
I won't say exactly where this place is because it's like a sanctuary in the city and I doubt the residents want traffic there.
I had the misfortune to see another turtle a bit later that day in the middle of the right-hand northbound lane of Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard. It was approximately the same size as the turtle I'd seen near the Frontenac Mall, but this turtle was nasty to look at. Its shell had been neatly split in two by an automobile's tires and its entrails were visible. It's head had been smashed as well.
This turtle was in the middle of the road. The motorist who hit it could have at least passed over it between the wheels, it as I did. The motorist must have known he or she had hit something because it was a fair-sized turtle. Maybe the driver needs glasses, or maybe the driver aimed for the turtle, which would be morbid in my eyes and in the eyes of any other animal activist.
Luckily, I carry shopping bags for this very purpose. I had a difficult time scooping the turtle's broken body into the bag. I left it in the long grass along Sir John A Macdonald Boulevard.
My advice to the driver who hit the turtle is, learn to drive.

I realise this is not Canadian, but perchance it is very relevent to the press item previously posted

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY (Arlington, Virginia) August 2004 Roads May Skew Turtle Sex Ratios - Painted and snapping turtles almost all male near major roads
Anyone who's seen a turtle cross the road knows that these slow-moving reptiles are no match for the cars whizzing past. But there has been little evidence that roads are a threat to turtle populations. Now new research suggests that cars are picking off the females: painted turtle populations are 73% male and snapping turtle populations are 95% male near roads in upstate New York.
"Our study indicates that females may be taking the brunt of the road kill," says James Gibbs, who presents this work with David Steen in the August 2004 Conservation Biology. Both researchers are at State University New York, Syracuse; Steen will be at the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center in Georgia beginning in August.
The U.S. has about a fifth of the world's turtle species (about 56 out of 257) and nearly half of them are imperiled. Roads are a likely threat to turtles because the juveniles migrate to find new places to live, and the adults migrate to find mates and nest sites. However, linking roads to declining turtle populations has been difficult because much of the road expansion has been relatively recent and turtles can live for more than 40 years, which means that even disturbed populations could persist for decades.
Study co-author Dave Steen with a large female snapping turtle. Females are disproportionately impacted by roads.
Steen and Gibbs compared the sex ratios of painted and snapping turtle populations in 35 wetlands in areas with high and low road densities near Syracuse, New York. Most of the high road density study sites were near the New York State Thruway and Interstate 84, while the low road density study sites were in protected areas including Howland Island Wildlife Management Area and Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area.
The researchers found that "high road density" turtle populations had many more males than "low road density" populations: painted turtles were 73% vs. 54% male, respectively, and snapping turtles were 95% vs. 74% male, respectively. This suggests that more females are killed on roads, presumably during their spring-summer nesting migrations. Fewer female turtles could mean fewer baby turtles to replenish the populations.
Turtles can be protected from traffic near wetlands by installing culverts to help them cross roads and short fences to keep them from crossing roads. People can also help turtles by moving them off roads. "When you see a turtle crossing a road in the spring or summer, there's a good chance it is a female full of eggs, so don't hit it and don't take it home or relocate it miles away," says Gibbs. Instead, turtles should be put on the side of the road they were trying to reach.
CONTACT:
David Steen: 845-699-2547, DavidASteen@yahoo.com
James Gibbs: 315-470-6764, jpgibbs@syr.edu (NOTE: James Gibbs will be unavailable until August 5)
Roads May Skew Turtle Sex Ratios