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Dear Herp Friends - when you look at the photo, notice the distance that the turtles are off to the side of the shoulder of the road - these are not 'accidents'. Respects, Wes

WHIG-STANDARD (Kington, Ontario) 13 June 05 'Jerks' and busy roads threaten to wipe out turtles: Westbrook should have turtle crossing signs, says Sandy Meech, wildlife protector (Dawn Cuthbertson)
Photo at URL - *GRAPHIC*: Wendy Workman, on the bridge across the creek on County Road 2 east of Westbrook, says many turtles have been hit by cars while crossing the road to lay their eggs (Ian MacAlpine)
Wendy Workman has been taking her two dogs, Dusty and Bekki, to Lemoine Point three times a week ever since they were puppies.
An animal lover, Workman, who lives in Wilton, said she used to enjoy driving her canines to the conservation area for some fresh air and exercise.
That is, until two weeks ago.
Workman, 43, says her peaceful jaunts have been ruined since she started making grisly discoveries along Princess Street between Kingston and Westbrook.
"There are dead turtles there every day," Workman said, at least six in recent weeks.
She suspects people are running over them intentionally.
"I'm really concerned about them because they're everywhere. I don't want people purposely running them over."
The turtles leave the marsh - in some areas just metres away from the heavily travelled highway - to find a suitable place to build a nest, Workman said.
"This is the time of year when snapping turtles lay their eggs," she said. "They're coming out onto the road and getting hit."
Turtles are attracted to roadways because they like to bury their white, ping pong-ball sized eggs in sand on the shoulders. Nesting in Ontario usually starts in late May and lasts well into July.
A single nest can house between 20 to 40 eggs. Hatchlings emerge and make their way back to the marsh sometime in late August or September.
"A lot of them get killed, too," Workman said.
Her last turtle encounter was Friday, when she spotted one lying in the middle of Princess Street.
"I thought it was dead but it was just sitting on the road sunning itself," she said.
"I stopped the traffic and edged it off the side of the road with my foot because I didn't want to get bit."
Worried that the turtle would wander back onto the highway as soon as she drove off, Workman said, against her better judgement, she then picked up the turtle by its back end and put it down in the swamp.
Four dead turtles were spotted on the edge of the highway yesterday afternoon.
Sue Meech of Sandy Pines Wildlife Sanctuary in Napanee said she's nursed six injured snapping turtles so far this season.
All of them suffered massive damage to their shells, which encompasses their spine and ribs. Four of them managed to recover and Meech released them back into the wild. Two had to be euthanised.
"They can't scream and cry like we do when we're in pain, people don't understand that," Meech said.
"Maybe if they did, they would treat turtles a little bit more humanely."
Turtles with cracked or damaged shells can develop life-threatening infections if they aren't treated, Meech said.
"Disease and bugs can get in there," she said. "They'll die."
Like humans, turtles can suffer broken bones and concussions after being involved in a collision, Meech said.
"I transferred one to a veterinary hospital in Peterborough because it had a fractured jaw," she said.
Meech has cared for injured turtles from as far away as Cobourg and Brighton.
Turtles tend to lay their eggs in the same general area year after year, she said.
"It's tradition. If they are born in that area, they are going to go back to that area. Unfortunately people have put houses, roads, parking lots and all kinds of things in their way."
While the majority of vehicle-turtle collisions are genuine accidents, some motorists hit them intentionally, Meech believes.
"There are some jerks out there," she said.
"If you walked a mile in my shoes one day, you'd be horrified. We're in danger of losing this species because of these roads."
Workman, who's studying humane education at the University of Toronto, said motorists should be on the lookout for adult turtles and hatchlings when passing through that stretch of highway.
"They play a part in the ecological system as much as we do so they need to be left alone," she said.
"Try to avoid them. It's possible."
Workman said she'd like to see "turtle crossing" signs posted on Princess Street near the marsh to remind motorists.
Chris Sleeth, a traffic supervisor for the City of Kingston, said that while there are several deer crossing signs posted along the highway, there are no "turtle crossing" signs there - or anywhere - in the city.
"The first thing we would do is talk to other municipalities to see what their criteria is to install them," Sleeth said Saturday.
Turtle crossing signs can be found in Napanee, Meech said.
"That Westbrook area is a place that should have a sign," she said.
'Jerks' and busy roads threaten to wipe out turtles

ST CLOUD TIMES (Minnesota) 22 June 05 Good Samaritan rescues rare turtle (Amy Bowen)
All Bam the turtle wanted to do Saturday night was cross the road. But maybe 25th Avenue North wasn't the best option.
While on a Dairy Queen run, St. Cloud resident Jan Crimando noticed traffic swerving to avoid something in the middle of the road. Once she saw it was a turtle, she had to help.
"She was going to be smushed," Crimando said. "She looked so big."
Crimando rescued the female turtle, which weighs about 2 pounds, and brought it home for some TLC. At first, her family thought the turtle, nicknamed Bam because of her near-death experience, was a pet box turtle. They called Linda Peck, a master-level wildlife rehabilitator from Rockville, to see if she could identify it.
After questioning, Peck and Steve Thrune, a lab technician at St. Cloud State University and wildlife specialist, determined Bam was actually a Blanding's turtle, a threatened species in Minnesota.
Bam probably came from the Sauk River and was looking for a place to lay her eggs, Thrune said. Blanding's turtles walk miles to find a spot to nest, Thrune said, so he wasn't surprised to find Bam that far from the river. The turtles face problems because of cities and infrastructure, he said.
"If you're looking for a species trying to kill itself, this is a good example," Thrune said.
This isn't the first time these types of turtles have come to the area.
Thrune helped a Blanding's turtle discovered in Waite Park find a home four or five years ago.
Luckily for Bam, Crimando's quick thinking prevented a traffic injury. Thrune delivered the turtle Tuesday to an appropriate habitat in Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge near Zimmerman. That area has other Blanding's turtles, he said.
"The thing has been very lucky so far," Thrune said.
Turtles
- Blanding's turtles have a high-domed black shell with yellow flecks. The key identification feature is the bright yellow throat. Their long necks make the yellow throat more visible.
- Blanding's turtles are protected by law in Minnesota as a threatened species. To report a sighting, contact the Department of Natural Resources at (888) MINNDNR. The DNR is conducting a research project focused on Blanding's turtles.
Source: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
http://miva.sctimes.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?Web/PrintFriendly.mv 1 local 697652

WQOW (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) 21 June 05 Beware: Turtle Crossing
Eau Claire: Turtles are causing problems for drivers on Eau Claire's westside.
Some Eau Claire residents could ask the city to shell out money to save shells--turtle shells. Turtles are causing problems on the city's westside. They're crossing streets to lay eggs and getting run over in the process. The issue is on the agenda for Wednesday night's Waterways and Parks meeting.
Katherine Mikelson grew up near what is now known as Rod and Gun Park in Eau Claire. It is still a wetland, but the city has since built a road through it. That is creating problems for turtles trying to lay their eggs. "Actually, one day there were two or three turtles, not this year, but last year that had already been crushed," says Mikelson.
The DNR says the turtles are crossing the roads to find sandy soil and more sunshine. Once they climb down the curbs, they often can't get back up. Mikelson and other residents may ask the city to get rid of curbs and consider creating gently sloping ramps. "There is such a long stretch of curbing there that they have a real hard time getting back to the lake again," says Mikelson.
DNR Wildlife Biologist John Dunn says he doubts the city will install ramps, but has another idea. "Just pick up that turtle and move it," says Dunn. "Get it up off the street, on the curb and see what happens."
Wednesday night's meeting is just a discussion about the turtles. No proposals have been made. The meeting starts at 7:00 and is open to the public.
http://www.wqow.com/news/articles/article_4049.shtml

RECORDER AND TIMES (Brockville, Ontario) 21 June 05 Park launches sign campaign to help area turtle population (Tracey Tong)
Mallorytown Landing: A recent study by the St. Lawrence Islands National Park has shown that the area's turtle population is in danger, a local expert says.
The park's most recent study on turtle fatalities found that with traffic volumes between Kingston and Brockville in the Thousand Islands ecosystem, collisions with vehicles is the leading cause of turtle death. The report states that in this area, the annual road mortality rate for turtles approaches five per cent for a small pond turtle, 25 per cent for large pond turtles and 50 per cent for land turtles. At the same time, other Canadian studies suggest that an annual loss of two per cent will cause a decline in the species.
"The population is not recovering," said Chris Bellemore, a species-at-risk communicator at St. Lawrence Islands National Park. "It's kind of alarming."
In an effort to help reduce turtle fatalities, the park is launching a signage campaign to bring awareness of the local turtle population, said Bellemore.
The national park will be erecting eight turtle crossing signs in the greater park area to draw attention to the problems that traffic can pose to turtles.
The signs - which were supplied by Turtle SHELL (Safety Habitat Education Long Life) Tortue, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to turtles - will be placed in areas where park staff notice turtle fatalities, said Bellemore.
While four of these signs are already up along the Thousand Islands Parkway between Mallorytown and Rockport, Bellemore said he anticipated putting up the other four in an area heavily populated by turtles along County Road 5 between Mallorytown and Athens.
June is the time of year when turtles are especially sensitive to car traffic, Bellemore said.
Turtles spend most of their time in water, but during nesting season - usually from mid-June to the end of June - female turtles move to land where they search for suitable nesting sites to lay their eggs.
Areas for nests can be sand or gravel-rich sites beside bodies of water, rotted logs, stumps, or vacated muskrat houses. Some of these are found along roads where there is lots of sand or gravel.
"The roads are certainly fragmenting their habitat," said Bellemore. "And this tends to minimize their populations due to the fact that there are barriers that they can't cross. They get separated and segregated."
As a result, turtles often cross roadways where there is a high level of traffic.
There are five turtle species in the area, including the Midland-painted turtle, snapping turtle, Blanding's turtle, map turtle, and stinkpot turtle. Of the five, three have been determined species at risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The Blanding's turtle and the stinkpot turtle are considered threatened and are likely to become endangered if factors are not reversed, and the map turtle is considered of special concern.
While most turtle fatalities on the road are accidents, Bellemore said that some people have been known to run over turtles on purpose.
"We do see cases of that, where tracks are going off the road to target a turtle," Bellemore said. "Turtles cannot sustain an impact from anything running over it. They're very sensitive that way."
But this doesn't mean that people should pull over to move turtles on a busy highway, he added.
"The best thing to do is be careful, slow down and avoid them, that kind of thing," Bellemore said.
As long as they don't get run over first, turtles can live up to 60 or 70 years, Bellemore said. Turtles reach maturity at about seven years.
"It's usually the mature turtles that get hit his time of year," said Bellemore. "And it's usually the females, because they're the ones that are travelling to lay their eggs."
Fall and early spring pose a different threat to turtles - this time, to the younger ones that are trying to make their way to water.
"Smaller turtles get hit later on in the season, and they're a lot harder to spot," Bellemore said.
St. Lawrence Islands National Park is committed to achieving ecological integrity, Bellemore said. Studies are ongoing to better understand these turtles' habits and the impact of humans on turtle populations.
http://newsfeed.recorder.ca/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=14040

NATURE CONSERVANCY (Minneapolis, Minnesota) 21 June 05 The Turtles are on the Move! The threatened Blanding’s Turtles are making their annual journey across Wabasha County Road 84 to their nesting grounds at The Nature Conservancy’s Weaver Dunes Preserve!
Minneapolis, Minnesota: The turtles are crossing the road! Each year at this time, over 1000 gravid (with eggs) female Blanding’s turtles move from marshes and wetlands associated with the old Zumbro River channel and cross Wabasha County Highway 84 as they make their way to traditional nesting areas at Weaver Dunes Preserve Scientific and Natural Area. Once a nest site is chosen, the female turtle digs a hole 4 to 6 inches deep and deposits an average of 10 eggs. Then the female covers the nest and returns to the marshes.
Although listed as a threatened species in Minnesota, Blanding’s turtles, still occur in substantial numbers in the vicinity of Weaver Dunes. In fact, this population may represent the largest concentration of Blanding’s turtles existing anywhere in the United States, with an estimated 5,000 individuals believed to currently inhabit the region’s wetlands. As one of the most important nongame wildlife resources in the state, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and The Nature Conservancy have sponsored research and prioritized the protection of the Weaver Dunes Blanding’s turtle population.
Critical to the protection of the Blanding’s turtle is protection of its habitat. The Nature Conservancy acquired the Weaver Dunes Preserve in 1980. Two years later, the Kellogg Weaver Dunes Scientific and Natural Area was established a half-mile north of the preserve by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Other protected land nearby includes the McCarthy Lake Wildlife Management Area and the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The protection of Blanding’s turtle females as they move back and forth across area roads is vital to the long-term survival and persistence of this truly unique population. Volunteers have been organized to assist with turtle road crossing in an effort to reduce road mortality and to provide an opportunity for people to get involved with turtle conservation.
Anna Travaglione, land steward for The Nature Conservancy’s Weaver Dunes Preserve said that “although the Blanding’s turtle is the most famous resident of Weaver Dunes, the Ottoe skipper butterfly, listed as state threatened, and the regal frittilary butterfly, a species of special concern also breed on the preserve.”
If you are driving on Wabasha County Highway 84, you will notice the “rare turtle crossing” signs posted by the DNR. Please be careful and help The Nature Conservancy and the DNR protect this important species for future generations to enjoy.
http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/minnesota/press/press1983.html