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2 blocks from my house there is a public "duck pond" with, I've seen, at least 30 turtles in it. There's even a small flock of geese that keep residence there. People come all the time to feed the ducks bread, which of course the turtles eat, too. Now, I'm just curious: can it harm the turtles to eat the bread? I recently found what I believe to be a musk turtle about 4" in size at the pond that had a hole the size of a pencil in its carapace near the tail.. I only saw it briefly before he jumped back in the water, but I'm concerned that by ingesting this bread, the turtles are just waiting to die, and suffering in the meantime. Being that its a public park, idk what I could do to help these poor animals. I know bread can harm the ducks, but before I start trying to raise hell, i'd like to know if the turtles ( the main occupants of this pond) are also negatively ecfected. Anyone that can shed insight on this situation, please respond. These turtles are dear to my heart, and I want the best for them. Thank you

I think people have noted the amounts of sugar in bread as why it would bad to use. Not sure how much of it has to be consumed to be harmful, but there are much better options out there for them... in nature or otherwise.

Maybe have a sign posted? Maybe have a small amount of pellets provided if the park goers want to feed them? I don't think that musk or others are suffering, but in a "wild" setting there isn't much you can do except to let people know to leave them alone.

I wish I had a pond by my house that had turtles in it