Kiley BriggsViews:
When young Jackson found a Wood Turtle with his family, broken on the side of a busy road, it wasn’t immediately clear that the turtle was alive. Hit by a car minutes prior, maybe even hours, the top right of its shell was snapped off and the wound was bleeding. When he realized the turtle was alive, however, he and his family immediately sprang into action. Their decision to stop and find help for the turtle ultimately saved its life. Yesterday, nearly a year later, the turtle was finally ready to go home. Once again, Jackson was there.
Roadkill is a big issue for many wildlife species. Turtles are especially sensitive to the threat of roads because females leave their aquatic homes in the spring to lay eggs. While searching for a place to nest, many cross highways or even lay their eggs along the edges of roads. Turtles live a long time, mature slowly, and have low reproductive rates, so roadkill can have a big impact on populations. That is especially true when adult females are the ones getting hit. Wood Turtles are at even greater risk because they spend so much time on land, even males, so they are susceptible to becoming roadkill spring, summer, and fall. Worse yet, the river valleys they live in are the easiest places to build roads, so a lot of Wood Turtle streams are followed on one or both sides by highways. Such was the case with Jackson’s turtle, which was found in an urban area with hardly any space between the nearby stream and busy roads.
I’m not a wildlife rehabilitator, but through my work in Vermont, I am authorized to provide some care for injured turtles. The moment I got my hands on Jackson’s turtle, however, it was clear that he needed a rehab professional. In addition to the cracked carapace, the turtle’s face was damaged, and its bridge (the part of the shell that connects the top to the bottom) was busted wide open. I brought him to JoAnn Nichols, a reptile rehabber who provided preliminary care, but the turtle’s needs were complicated. He ended up spending the winter at the TUFTS Wildlife Clinic in Massachusetts where he had several surgeries. His bridge could not be repaired and was left open, allowing new tissue and bone to form, and his right eye could not be saved. But the turtle lived, and he healed.
Despite his gruesome injuries and scars, the turtle recovered and is in excellent health. Eating like a champ and trying incessantly to escape his enclosure, the moment the tissue around his missing bridge became firm it was time for his release. And Jackson and his family were excited to participate in his send-off.
One burning question that comes up a lot during wildlife rehabilitation is, “did the animal survive in the wild after release?”. Rehabbers put a lot of work and their own personal time and money into what they do, but they usually don’t find out how the animals fare after release. In this case, we can do something about that. Before meeting Jackson and his dad and sister, I put a radio transmitter on the turtle’s shell. That will allow me to check in on him a few times between now and the winter to make sure he is doing ok. If he’s still in great shape in the spring, I’ll remove the transmitter and wish him luck. Yesterday morning, transmitter in place, it was time for the turtle to go back home.
Wood Turtles have strong homing instincts and are usually best served by being returned to where they were found after rehab. Where he was found, however, was kind of an odd spot for a Wood Turtle. Teenage male Wood Turtles often disperse to new areas or go exploring far from their normal home ranges. I suspect that’s what he was doing when he was hit by a car. So, after consulting with VT Fish and Wildlife, we decided to release the turtle about a mile downstream to a spot with lots of safe habitat between the stream and road. This will give the turtle plenty of time and space to orient as he adjusts back to life in the wild. The spot may even be where the turtle traveled from originally.
Jackson was elated to be a part of the release. Naturally, he got to have the honor of letting the turtle go. Smiling ear to ear, he placed the turtle on the edge of the creek, and the turtle swam off. What happened next made the moment even more special for us all. As rehabbed turtles often do, after he swam off, he turned back and approached us a couple of times before swimming away again and disappearing into the depths. It’s hard to know exactly what the turtles are thinking when they approach or look back at the people who released them. Whether true or not, it is heartening to think of it as the turtle’s way of saying goodbye, or perhaps even thanks. We may never know what’s actually going on in their heads, but it is hard not to anthropomorphize. Whatever the behavior really means, I enjoy seeing it when it happens.
And, yes, the turtle has a name. Jackson and his sister couldn’t agree on Josh or George, so they went with Josh George. Good luck out there, Josh George!
