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Minnesota Asks Drivers To Brake For Turtles
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June 14, 2010 2:10 p.m. EST
Topics: lifestyle and leisure, politics, local authority, conservation, endangered species, environmental issue, holiday or vacation, United States
Kris Alingod - AHN News Contributor
St. Paul, MN, United States (AHN) - The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is asking motorists to brake for turtles crossing roads at this time of the year because it is nesting season.
The agency wants drivers to allow the animals to cross unassisted if there is no oncoming traffic. "Observe from a distance and avoid rapid movements as doing otherwise will often cause turtles to change direction, stop, or seek shelter within their shells," the department said in a release.
If assistance is necessary and unless there is great physical risk, turtles should be helped across in as direct a line as possible to their original path. Turtles are known to return to their path if they are turned back to the wrong side of the road.
The department gave no tips about how to assist very large turtles, but as with all wildlife, it is best to handle them carefully and only when necessary.
It is egg-laying season for turtles, which leave wetlands, rivers and other wintering areas and travel as much as a kilometer to lay their eggs in nesting sites from May through June.
Minnesota has nine turtle species, some of which are protected, such as the state's largest turtle, the common snapping turtle.
According to the department, the common snapping turtle is found throughout the East Coast but was listed as a special concern species in 1984 likely because of a combination of harvesting, water pollution and the loss of old nesting sites from flooding and commercial development.
Peak harvest for the common snapping turtle is in June, which is also the height of nesting season. Harvesting of an infinite number of turtles with shells at least a foot long is allowed by the department.
The agency admits in its website that wintering areas are vulnerable to overtrapping and that harvesting of females which are long-lived and reproduce once their shell reaches a length of 10 inches, "may significantly affect local breeding populations."
Another protected species is Minnesota's wood turtle, which was declared threatened in 1984.
The turtle, named for patterns on its shell similar to the growth rings of a tree, has a low reproductive capacity. Unlike other turtles that age faster, it reaches maturity after 14 to 18 years. It has been greatly affected by human activities because it depends on riverine forests, areas the state department of natural resources says is "attractive to reacreationists," who in turn "attract predators into the area because of trash left behind."
Adult turtles aren't the only ones in danger of being eaten by predators or of becoming road kill.
Unhatched eggs and hatchlings face the risk of being illegally harvested by humans or eaten by foxes, skunks and birds. From 60 to 100 percent of a group of eggs may be lost to predators, according to the department.
Moreover, lights from resorts and boats, pollution from sewage, and the construction of dams and locks may confuse and harm hatchlings, which follow the light of the moon to reach water when they emerge from the egg. In the water, hatchlings may also be eaten by other predators, such as fish and snakes.
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