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.