The Wildlife Center of Virginia, the nation’s leading teaching and research hospital for wild animals, is releasing six Eastern Box Turtles that have been treated at the Center. 

These turtles were admitted to the Wildlife Center from June through September 2009.  While these turtles have all recovered from their injuries, mostly fractured shells that heal slowly, they were not ready to be released by October – in enough time to ensure that they could find appropriate spots for over-winter hibernation.  The turtles were housed in the Center’s reptile room through the winter and are now ready to be released – at about the same time that Eastern Box Turtles in the wild are emerging from hibernation.  The Center turtles have been spending an increasing amount of time out-of-doors to get them acclimated to the spring temperatures.

The turtles are each being taken back to their home territories – in fact, back to a spot as close as is practicable to the site where they were initially rescued.  Box Turtles have a very small home range – some estimates suggest a home territory of only one or two acres.  Studies suggest that relocated turtles will attempt to return to their home territories, exposing them to additional hazards.

The six turtles are:

* #09-1033.  Admitted from Clifton Forge on June 4, 2009.  The turtle was found on a road and had a fractured lower shell and an injury to its right foot.  [Animals admitted to the Center are given sequential patient numbers, in the order in which they are admitted. Patient #09-1033 was the 1,033th patient admitted to the Center during 2009, out of a total patient count of 2,534 for the year.]

#09-1033

 * #09-1554.  Found by a Wildlife Center employee on a trail near the Center and admitted on July 8 with an eye injury.

 * #09-1720.  Admitted on July 19.  This turtle had suffered a lower-shell fracture and was first taken to the Wellesley Animal Hospital in Richmond.  The turtle was then transported to the Wildlife Center.

#09-1720

 * #09-2188.  Was found on a road in Stuarts Draft and admitted on      September 10 with a lower-shell fracture.

 * #09-2297.  Admitted from Grottoes [Rockingham County] on September 24.  Center vets determined that the turtle had aural abscesses.

During 2009, the Center treated 81 Eastern Box Turtles.  The Center also treated other turtle species, including one Common Musk Turtle; 31 Common Snapping Turtles; one Eastern Mud Turtle; and 23 Eastern Painted Turtles. 

Turtle Tips

To help protect turtles, the Wildlife Center recommends the following:

* Don’t keep a turtle as a pet.  Some turtle populations, such as the Eastern Box Turtle, are declining.  The removal of one healthy adult can have a significant detrimental impact on the local population.  A female box turtle may lay several hundred eggs over the course of her lifetime – but only two or three will likely reach adulthood.

* Watch out for turtles and other wildlife when mowing lawns and doing other yard-work.

* Keep domestic animals indoors or on leashes.  Free-roaming dogs and cats injure and kill millions of wild animals each year. 

* Assist turtles crossing a road by carrying them across in the direction they’re headed.   Many turtles crossing roads are egg-laden females looking for appropriate nesting sites.  

* Do NOT relocate a turtle to a “better place”.  Turtles have small home territories and should be left where they are found.

*  Take special care when dealing with a Snapping Turtle.  These turtles may be as much as 19 inches long, weigh up to 35 pounds, have powerful jaws, and a long neck .  To safely handle a large Snapping Turtle, avoid the front half of the turtle’s body.  While wearing gloves, place one hand on the base of the turtle’s tail – to help stabilize and secure the turtle – and slide the other hand halfway under the turtle’s shell. 

 * If you find an injured turtle, put it in a box and contact the Wildlife Center of Virginia or a permitted wildlife rehabilitator.  Make sure to record details of the rescue location so that the turtle can be returned there once it has healed.

 * Always wash your hands with soap and water after handling a turtle. 

Wildlife Center of Virginia

Every year, about 2,500 animals – ranging from Bald Eagles, bobcats, and bears to turtles, opossums and chipmunks – are brought to the Wildlife Center for care.  Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Center has cared for more than 54,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.  “The goal of the Center is to restore our patients to health and return as many as possible to the wild,” said Ed Clark, President and Co-Founder of the Wildlife Center.  “At the Wildlife Center, we treat to release.”

The Center’s public education programs share insights gained through the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, in hopes of reducing human damage to wildlife.  The Center trains veterinary and conservation professionals from all over the world and is actively involved in comprehensive wildlife health studies and the surveillance of emerging diseases.