THE PIONEER (Belleville, Ontario) 17 June 05 Turtle crossing poses danger to drivers and turtles alike (David Lea)
Four dead snapping turtles along the side of one of Kingston's busiest roads last Thursday are no mystery to some people.
Why so many of the elusive animals are being found dead on the road within meters of each other is obvious for people like Gord Dopking. The Kingston man has grown up around turtles and lives only a kilometre east of where the dead turtles were found.
"It's breeding season.That's why they're dead," he said.
June is the month when the common snapping turtle leaves the marsh to reproduce. A local biologist said its choice of nesting sites is bringing it into contact with humans and may lead it to extinction.
"Snapping turtles need soft (earth) to bury eggs. They prefer open sunny spots. You will usually find them nesting in road and railway beds," said Carolyn Bonta, a biologist and Assistant Park planner with Ontario Parks.
The bulk of snapping turtles killed on roads this time of year are mature females hit by cars as they search for a place in the road bed gravel to dig a hole for their eggs, Bonta said. Their preferred time of movement is dawn and dusk, which puts them on the road just in time for rush-hour traffic.
A snapping turtle's chances of survival are slim enough without the added danger from cars, she said. A snapping turtle is in danger from the moment the egg is laid. Skunks, raccoons and foxes wipe out entire nests, which they dig up and eat. As hatchlings, their soft-shells make them vulnerable to fish, other turtles and birds. Hatchlings can even drown when deep, turbulent water keeps them from reaching the surface in time to breathe, Bonta said.
"I'd say one in 100 maybe make it to breeding age," she said.
Even making it to maturity does not guarantee a snapping turtle a long life. Otters are known to eat adult snapping turtles alive during hibernation but the adult snapping turtle's greatest predators are humans and our cars.
The Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre website says snapping turtle survival rate is already so razor thin that a yearly one-to-two-per-cent increase in the loss of adult turtles, particularly egg-bearing females, will drive populations towards extinction.
Bonta fears the fate of the snapping turtle will be the same as the map turtle.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the snapping turtle is placed on the endangered species list sometime in my lifetime," she said.
Champlain Animal Hospital in Peterborough is busy treating snapping turtles injured on roads, receiving two on June 13 alone. The work the animal hospital does for injured turtles was outlined by veterinarian Dr. Kristy Hiltz, who is also a member of the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre.
"The most common injuries are shell fractures or shell shearing, a lot of broken jaws. We apply anti-bacterial creams and flush the wounds. We also wire their shells back together. Often they won't eat so we have to put a feeding tube into their stomach," she said.
Caring for a badly injured turtle is not a quick process, said Hiltz. One large snapping turtle had to be on a feeding tube for seven months while it recovered. One of the snapping turtles that arrived June 13 has a shearing injury and multiple fractures to its face; Hiltz believes it will have to remain at the hospital for a year.
The admiration Hiltz feels for her patients can be heard in her description of a turtle's will to live.
"They are incredibly resilient, some are brought in here just smashed and they survive," she said.
Typically 80 turtles, of all species, are brought to the animal hospital each year, but Hiltz said she is expecting more this year because of the hotter than average weather.
Hiltz shares the belief that the snapping turtle is heading towards extinction.
"The snapping turtle is expected to be added to the species-at-risk list in the next few years," she said.
As if snapping turtles were not in enough danger, Bonta believes their fearsome reputation causes some people to target them.
"I'm convinced people run them over on purpose out of fear or belief that they're bad," she said.
One of the dead turtles on the Kingston road was far on the shoulder where a driver would have needed to swerve to hit it. This lends credibility to Bonta's theory.
Their bad reputation is undeserved, Bonta said. Their size does not allow them to fully hide in their shell so snapping is the only defense they have. Given the choice, snapping turtles avoid human contact both in the water and on land.
"They'd rather just run away and hide," said Bonta.
Hope for the snapping turtle population remains, provided people make an effort, she said. Reducing the speed of your car near marsh lands is one way to save snapping turtles and a number of other marsh wildlife. Bonta said getting cities to put up turtle-crossing signs is another way to help motorists keep a watch for turtles in their path.
Bonta's last suggestion is not for the faint of heart.
"If people feel comfortable they can help the (snapping) turtle across the road. Grab the turtle by the base of the tail, don't lift it off the ground or you'll break its spine but slide it off the road. I just grab them in the middle of the shell," she said.
Respect for the snapping turtle's powerful jaws must be kept in mind if this course of action is to be attempted, a fact not overlooked by Dopking.
"They can take chunk right out of your leg," he said.
Turtle crossing poses danger to drivers and turtles alike