Other Turtle Discussion :: Declining Turtles

[marisa]

An interesting article on one reason why turtles are declining:

http://www.esf.edu/newspubs/news/2004/11.02.turtles.htm

[flutterby]

Just another reason to take them across the road than bring them home and make them pets.

I remember when I was little we were driving down the road and there was a turtle in the road, we went back to take it to the other side, and before we got there a garbage truck crushed it. The poor thing.

Where we live we see alot of turtles, box turtles.. snappers... I always shoo them across (cept for the snappers I let Eric do that).

[pretty.rock.machine]

Around here there are always turtles on the road, even in town. When ever I see them in town I hop out and move them across the street to a safe area. I always want to on the highway, but traffic isn't very safe here.

They should set up conservations or breeding grounds in highway dense areas. On either side of the road. It's really sad...

On another note about turtle safety. I went to a pet store yesterday to buy some more calcium blocks, and they had some turtles there. They had one Russian tortoise who was about 5"-6" long and it looked like they had him in a hermit crab cage with some straw. Also they had FOUR softshelled turtles in about a 10-20 gallon tank with one small dock, that only one turt could fit on. It was really sad because all these turtles were quite big and it looked like each one started developing shell rot. Some dumb girls (young, acted like they didn't know what they were talking about) worked there. It was really sad. If I would of complained they probably would of thought I was crazy. Some of the animals looked like they were okay, but even the bunnies and piranas had too small of tanks/pens for how many were in there.

Pet stores should have people like food inspectors or the AAA come in and crack down on that sort of thing. It made me sad.

[evilsr20degg]

they should put some chicken wire or something along the bottome of the guard rails so the turtles cant get into the road......i know that wouldnt make it possible to cross but it would be better than running them over.

[TexasJagsFan]

Every time I see turtles, I make sure I put them across the road.

[JenniferandPaws]

Several months ago, My husband was driving home from work and saw a turtle laying in the road. He was on the highway and had to get off the highway, and get back on in order to drive by him again. By the time he got back, the turtle was on the other end of a huge skidmark. He picked him up, took him home and we brought him to a local zoo to see the specialist. We wanted to make sure he was OK before releasing him (His foot was damaged from an old wound) .. Once we found out he was OK, We drove back and released him in his woods.

[lisajonathan00]

That is one thing I always do. I dont care what road it is. I have always stopped just to get them across the road. I hate to see box or even snapper turts go do to someone running them over.