Turtle rescue Orillia 2004

Rescues come in all shapes and sizes. Even turtles. Yes turtles. In the fall of 2004 there was a site in Orillia slated for development. Called the MURF site.One problem. It was a wetland. A friend. Bob Bowles got involved and after much work got permission to go in and do a rescue. It was November. Turtles already into hibernation mode. Then Sciensational Snakes also climbed on board. And the Twin Lakes Conservation Club of Orillia. It was a cold day in November. As a large group gathered to get ready for the job at hand. Jeff ( my son ) was 13 at that time and was right in there to do his best. It was a lot of work,cold and best of all. REWARDING. TVO was there to film some of it and local newspapers as well. I cant remember how long it took exactly. But I do believe it to be the better part of the day. They used waders,nets,shovels and expertise. And along with a few mud puppies and tadpoles. 50 midland painted turtles were found and rescued. I am sure we didn't get them all. But 50 turtles was a lot of lives saved. Every turtle was sexed,marked / numbered,Numbering was done with a file from 1 to 52 and put into a chart. This does not hurt the turtles but you must know what you are doing to do it. So we learned from the best. After that they all got measured for size. Then all the information was put onto special spread sheets for documentation. From #1 to #50. It was all there. Photos taken. With time limited we had to stop at 52 to get out there and find healthy wetlands to release these guys into. And no more turtles were getting found for a bit. Not as easy as one would think for 50 turtles. It took 3 wetlands in total for release sites. And a couple of the men had to be pulled out of one of them as they sank in the mud up to their thighs. Not an easy job at any time of year. But November with cold temps and a skimming of ice. Not so much fun. But we got them all released. Some of them back into a pond behind Sciensational Snakes. Were we could watch them swim under the layer of thin ice and go to the bottom. It was quite the day. A learning experience for all. And a new lease on life for the turtles. I can tell you it was the talk of the town for some time to come. With marking these turtles we were hoping to keep track of them in years to come if they were seen. And some were seen in the next few years,basking,crossing the roads. Was it successful. Well some were seen so I would say yes it was. I am sure more were out there but you cant see all of them on the move. They were healthy. It was incredible and we will never forget that cold frigid day at the wetland that was later filled in. Only to find out it was contaminated land. It could not be developed. Sound familiar. !!! And I have been rescuing ever since.

                                                   Our first turtle All covered in mud.

                           Very long nails on this turtle tells us it is a nice healthy male.

                            A leech has takin to hitchhike on this turtles plastron. ( lower shell).

                           Jeff learns how to mark a turtle by Jenny who closely monitors him.

                       Every turtle has its own pattern on the plastron. No 2 turtles will be alike.

                                                                          Releasing

                                                    Local newspapers get in on the rescue as well.

                                                                  Another job well done.