I know we're doing work here in VT to conserve the species... we certainly have the ability to find more than 5 within state boundaries but it is listed as a species of greatest conservation need. I would be a little concerned about breeding and releasing animals into the wild -- it's possible that animals from texas would be genetically different enough from ones up here that there would be outbreeding complications and the co-adapted gene complexes might get thrown out of whack in successive generations... the place I intern at has (had) 3 wood turtles on display but recently one of our wood turtles was stolen as they are quite valuable. If you want to read something incredibly depressing, check out this article,
A 20-Yr Study Documenting the Relationship Between Turtle Decline and Human Recreation by Garber and Burger. If you don't have access to the article I can email it to you.


