Posted on: 2018-10-05 10:30:24
🐢
Turtle news we found interesting recently.
It was a slow turtle new week, but we did find a boxie rehab story and baby turtle stories … which always makes for a good week in our book!
There were also some rescues & releases. And unfortunately more smuggling stories. But at least they were caught.
Plus turtles off California coast will soon be safer. And more.
🐢
Recent Box Turtle News
This week we found both sad & happy box turtle stories. One man sees them as nothing but money while a wildlife sanctuary goes to great lengths to help one heal.
Caught trafficking in box turtles: A man in Oklahoma has been charged with shipping box turtles from Oklahoma to a pet store in Las Vegas. 🙁 If he’s convicted he could spend up to a year in prison.
And in happier news, did you see this rehabilitated beauty when we shared the post on Facebook earlier this week? Tails of Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary wired & zip-tied this guy together to give his shell time to heal. And it worked!
Recent U. S. Turtle News
Baby turtle season is almost over in the US, but we still found a few stories on the little ones … 2 with video! Also, good news for sea turtles off California’s coast, turtles survived Hurricane Florence, and more.
Don’t forget to keep following the Tour de Turtles! There’s still 27 days left, and plenty of time for Trixie (or someone else!) to overtake Bion in the non-leatherback category. Poor Milly’s pretty far behind in the leatherback group. Who are you rooting for?
Turtle safety news
Reminder: Turtles on the move! It’s almost time for the turtles to start hibernating in much of the US. And that means they’re looking for good spots to dig in & do just that. Which means more of them are crossing streets again. Be on the lookout, and help them if you can.
Lifeguards are ready to help anyone in trouble: That includes sea turtles who mistake fishing bait for good food. The lifeguards got the 70-pound turtle to SeaWorld where it’s doing well. Includes pictures & video. (San Diego)
California just got safer for sea turtles: And other marine life. Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill on September 27 to end the use of driftnets. They will be phased out over 4 years.
Baby turtles news
Tiny snappers head for the water: The just-hatched little cuties are milling about, slowly making their way toward their new home. Video. (Minnesota)
First ever New York Kemp’s ridley hatchlings head to sea: These turtles don’t nest in New York, but back in June one decided to anyway. It took some help from the National Park Service, but most of the eggs hatched last week & the babies are now swimming free. Includes video.
Oregon Zoo welcomes baby western pond turtles: The 15 tiny turtles are part of the zoo’s head start program to try to save the species. They’ll live at the zoo until next spring, and they’ll be on display for visitors. Good luck, little ones!
Other turtle news
After 10 months of rehab, turtle is ready to go home: The green sea turtle had spear wounds when it was found last December. But it has healed, gained weight, and is ready for release. Includes video. (Guam)
The Sea Turtle Hospital & its turtles are glad Florence is gone: Everybody got through the storm just fine, and now they’re all trying to get back to a normal schedule.
Recent International Turtle News
Around the world we found baby sea turtles with impeccable timing, 2 stories on what happens when people release pet turtles, and more.
But first, have you ever wanted to do sea turtle research? Here’s your chance to be a sea turtle research assistant in Costa Rica: The Pacuare Reserve Ecology Project International is accepting applications for next season. You can choose to work the whole season or only part.
Singapore opens its first turtle hatchery: The official launch was September 29, although NParks has been running a turtle management program since 2016. The turtles themselves showed their approval of the new center, with 16 little babies hatching & heading for the sea the morning of the opening.
Black spotted turtle smuggling across Asia: Almost one-third of the turtles seized from smugglers were in India. The cute little turtle is also a popular smuggling target in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh. At one time it was smuggled mostly for meat. These days it’s a popular exotic pet. 🙁 The IUCN Red List classifies it as vulnerable.
A reminder to not release your pet turtle into the wild: This article is specific to the Isle of Man, but it really applies everywhere. It’s cruel to the animal, which may not be native to the area and may not be able to survive. If it does survive, it can cause problems for local plants & animals. And in many places it’s also illegal.
It took years to remove non-native turtles from nature reserve: Devon Wildlife Trust recently reported it believes it finally caught the last of the turtles. The false map turtle, along with several red-eared and yellow-bellied sliders are not native to the UK, so were most likely dumped by people who no longer wanted their pets.
More turtles microchipped & released near Mumbai: A Danahu sea turtle center recently got permission to microchip sea turtles before release. It released the first 2 chipped turtles in late August. Last week it released 3 more.
Expensive turtle parts: They’ll cost a Filipino teen 3 years of his life and RM50,000. He had been found with more than 90kg of green turtle parts. (Malaysia)