Here is how a Toronto group is protecting the city's turtle population
Stewardship group Turtle Protectors aims to reduce the human impacts on the city’s turtles, while also educating the public about them.
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Dozens of volunteers are dedicating their spare time to advocating for, protecting, and supporting Toronto's at-risk turtle population. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
Turtle Protectors is an Indigenous-led, volunteer-run stewardship program that was inspired by a mama snapping turtle that its founders, Toronto residents Carolyn Crawley (bottom right), Jenny Davis, (top) and Grandmother Vivienne Recollet (bottom left) helped while she was laying her eggs on June 8, 2021, in High Park. Crawley said they learned through that experience that there was no official turtle protection group in the city and decided to start one up. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
Launched in 2022, the program aims to reduce the human impacts on turtles in Toronto, while also educating the public about them. (Turtple Protectors/photo)
Volunteers work throughout the year to help the shell-encased reptiles cross roads and protect their nests. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
They also bring hatchlings closer to water so they don’t get crushed by feet, cars, or bikes. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
“There are big threats like dogs off leash. People in parks also often touch and pick up turtles,” Crawley said, noting that cherry blossom season is especially problematic for the city’s turtle population as people inadvertently injure or even kill many hatchlings. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
So far this year, 200 volunteers have spent 4,000 hours protecting 105 snapping and midland painted turtle nests and releasing almost 1,000 hatchlings in 10 Toronto parks. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
Volunteers are most active during turtle nesting season, which runs from late May to mid July, as well as hatchling season, which lasts for about from mid-August to mid-October. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
The most common turtles in Toronto, all of which are considered species at risk, are the snapping turtle, the midland painted turtle, the northern map turtle, and Blanding's turtles, which are endangered in Canada. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
An important part of the ecosystem, turtles help clean waterways by consuming decomposing plants and animals. (Turtle Protectors/photo)
