TELEGRAPH JOURNAL (Saint John, New Brunswick) 14 August 03 Study aims to keep reptiles from getting shelled (Jennifer Malo)
Making sure wood turtles aren't shell-shocked from military training at CFB Gagetown is part of Vanessa Roy's job.
Unfortunately, dodging turtle bites and urine also comes with it.
The graduate student from the University of New Brunswick is busy this summer finding turtles at the base, tagging them with radio transmitters, and then tracking their movements.
Wood turtles, designated as a species of concern, are cute little critters but they almost always urinate when they get nervous and will likely munch on a finger if it gets too close.
But despite the drawbacks, Ms. Roy loves her thesis project. "It's really fun to be outside all the time and not everybody gets to play with turtles."
A two-year study was launched in May to examine the range, nesting sites and wintering sites of wood turtles in the area. The data collected will provide a map of the turtles' habitats so tanks can drive around them.
When Ms. Roy and her assistant Glen Forbes find a turtle, they use a power drill to break through the shell - which doesn't injure the creatures - and screw in a radio transmitter about the size of a pill bottle. Nine wood turtles are already tagged and 29 others will be outfitted later this season.
Dr. Graham Forbes is supervising the study.
He says the wood turtle population is declining in Eastern Canada and the U.S. because of road fatalities.
"It's probably when you have a lot of traffic and an animal that's not too worried about running away from things, they end up not running from trucks and such."
The pet trade has also diminished the turtle numbers, but Dr. Forbes said pet turtles can be dangerous. To keep a at home, pet owners have to feed it fresh meat that could contain salmonella. In the wild, wood turtles eat insects, fruit, berries and small fish, if they can catch them.
The base has actually provided the turtles with a stable home because there are few roads and people.
Wood turtles are not the only species with declining populations living on the base. Short-eared owls and red-breasted sunfish are also termed species of concern, the lowest level under the Species at Risk Act.
CBC (Saint John, New Brunswick) 13 August 03 Army shells, turtle shells share a base
CFB Gagetown: They are amphibious, camouflaged, armoured and they live in the woods on Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. But they are vulnerable. The wood turtle is being set up to be protected at the military base.
Recently, a federal law was passed saying any big land holder has to assess that land to look for species at risk and if necessary, develop a protection plan. The army has hired two researchers from the University of New Brunswick to look for shells on the base, turtle shells not ordinance.
Vanessa Roy, one of the researchers, explains how she and her colleague Glen Forbes, look for wood turtles. "We start by a search around the 10-metre edge, pretty much look for turtles. If we find one, we go about marking it to find out which turtle is which – and if we found it before – and then go back to doing a habitat plot."
When a wood turtle reaches three or four years, it has very few predators. But the difficulty with the wood turtle is that it travels more than any other turtle and that means it often heads in the direction of one it's worst threats, man.
At CFB Gagetown, that means trucks, soldiers, tanks and artillery shells. Most wood turtles are killed while crossing the road. They are on the endangered species list in the United States and their numbers are slipping in Canada.
Roy and Forbes record the habitat of the wood turtles, count them and track them with radio transmitters.
Noah Pond, the base's Environmental Compliance Officer, says, "The idea is to learn what the wood turtle does, as well as the other species, and then integrate military training. Where is the wood turtle at certain times of years and basically avoid those areas."
This restricted army base may have to set aside a restricted turtle base, to make it safe for the wood turtle to, well, come out of its shell.
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