Earth Day Is Turtle Day at Wellfleet Bay — 19 April 2003Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary hosted an Earth Day “Free-For-All” Celebration on Saturday, April 19th. The theme centered on small things from ticks to plankton, with presentations and workshops from 10 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. Consistent with this theme, we scheduled the release of a four-year-old juvenile snapping turtle (which had been discovered cold-stunned in a solidly frozen fish pond in March; see Spring Surprise) into the small pond in the Sanctuary’s butterfly garden — a perfect spot for a young snapper to reach maturity.
On my arrival at Wellfleet Bay I learned that a National Park Service ranger had dropped off another cold-stunned diamondback terrapin. This seven-year-old male had been found off Herring River near the colonial tavern site on Great Island. Marked #1793 (on the left), he was cold and sluggish, but has gradually warmed to activity. Tonight he shares a heated tank with an also formerly cold-stunned, eight-year-old male (#1791, on the right). If spring ever comes to the Land of Ooze, we plan to release them back into the wild on/about 1 May.
I arrived early and set up shop with the snapping turtle and the two formerly cold-stunned terrapins, so that visiting children would have an opportunity to get close to these exquisite critters. Charismatic animals, turtles are people traps, and smallish turtles like these are the perfect size to relate to children without fear or intimidation. The result was obvious and predictable as kids came running as though responding to the Pied Piper’s tune.
One young lady named Tanner fell in love with the juvenile snapper, probably about her same age. She thought he was the most handsome fellow she had ever met.
After the turtles won every heart in the Nature Center, it was time to move outside and introduce the snapper to his new home. His release would kick off a guided Sanctuary tour to top off Earth Day at Wellfleet Bay. I introduced him to the assembled visitors, told the story of his discovery and rescue, and compared the ease of rehabbing a four-year-old snapper compared with 30-pound Darth Vader from last year (see Full House — 20 December 2001).
Fond good-byes were wished and the young snapper slipped silently into his new home, disappearing beneath a matting of fallen leaves. A painted turtle was basking on the other side of the pond, and small fish were chasing air bubbles along the shoreline. I think he’ll enjoy this spot until he reaches a healthy size when he can amble the few hundred yards into Silver Spring.
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