Turtles On Parade

This has nothing to do with the arts, but I have to hand it to Woodland Park Zoo. Their press releases tend to cheer me up. Yesterday they announced that nineteen western pond turtles were released into a wild refuge site in Pierce county, the culmination of project that seeks to restore a fragile population in the Northwest.

I rescued a red-eared slider from the road in Houston once. It escaped its box and sort of hissed at me a few times. I released it at Armand Bayou. It never looked back.

More info about the western pond turtle program from the press release after the jump.

A pair of Zoo Corps teens, Ariel Thompson and Garrett Brenden (shown above), got to experience the full cycle of a critical species recovery project as they helped Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Woodland Park Zoo release 19 western pond turtles (Emys marmorata) back to the wild today at a wildlife refuge site in Pierce County.

In addition to the 19 turtles released, 57 were released on the Kitsap Peninsula and 13 in the Columbia River Gorge.

Next year will mark the 20-year anniversary of the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project. The reintroduction of the endangered western pond turtles is part of a long-term, collaborative effort among Woodland Park Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help prevent the extinction of the species.

The 10-month-old turtles, which currently weigh between 3 and 4 ounces apiece, were collected last fall from the wild as hatchlings and head started at the zoo to give them an edge on surviving in the wild. “We grow the turtles up throughout the winter with a regular diet of fish, worms and other high protein items. In essence, it’s summer year round for the turtles since they are kept in warmer temperatures and don’t have to hibernate,” explained Mark Myers, a curator at the zoo. “By summer, the juveniles are almost as big as 3-year-old turtles would be that grew up in the wild. Their advanced size helps improve their chance of survival in the wild.”

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The goals of the program are to re-establish self-sustaining populations in Puget Sound and the Columbia River Gorge regions, and for enough young turtles from wild nests to survive without the need to head start them in zoos. “But as long as the non-native bullfrog continues to pose a threat, head starting the turtles at zoos will remain critical to restoring these rare pond turtles to their natural habitat and establishing new populations,” said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Greg Schirato, regional wildlife program manager. 

Scientists tracking the released turtles estimate that 95 percent of the turtles released back into the Columbia River Gorge have survived, and nearly all of the turtles released back in Pierce and Mason Counties have survived. “As a result of our partnership with Woodland Park Zoo and Oregon Zoo, we have made remarkable strides in helping these turtles make a comeback. The current population has soared to approximately 1,500 in Washington state,” added Schirato.

The habitat of western pond turtles includes slow-moving streams, marshes, ponds, lakes and canals with muddy bottoms. The turtles are most common in areas with large rocks and boulders, where they go to bask in the sun. Western pond turtles are omnivores and scavengers, eating various insects, frogs and frog eggs, fish and carrion. In zoos, the turtles are fed mealworms, earthworms, waxworms, crickets, mice and some fish.

The Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project is a part of Woodland Park Zoo’s Partners for Wildlife, a conservation initiative aiming to ensure a future for wildlife in partnership with local communities. The zoo currently partners with 37 field conservation projects in more than 50 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.zoo.org and click on “Conservation.”

Photo by Rachel Gray