Slow and steady progress in decade-long project to save B.C.'s only native turtle

Menita Prasad knows that turtles don't rate the same kind of attention from the public as a "cute, fluffy mammal."

The director of animal care at Greater Vancouver Zoo says that's one reason why British Columbia's endangered western painted turtles deserve special care.

The zoo is part of a decade-long project to revive the fortunes of the province's only native freshwater turtle.

"How can you not love a turtle?" said Prasad, describing the western painted turtle's "beautiful, bright-red plastron," the underside of its shell.

The zoo in Langley, B.C., is halfway through the project to collect western painted turtle eggs in the wild and hatch them, to increase their chances of survival when they are released.

Prasad said it's been a bumper year for the zoo, releasing more than 550 of the turtles, more than double the annual average. But there's a long way to go to save the species.

The 10-year project began in 2019, although Prasad said the zoo had been releasing turtles before that and had freed around 3,000 of them over the past decade.

She said she'd rather not reveal the exact release sites. "Believe it or not, people will take these animals to eat them," said Prasad.

The turtle is listed as an endangered species by the federal government and red-listed in B.C., meaning they face the highest risk of extinction in the province.

In addition to predators, both human and natural, the turtles face competition from invasive red-eared sliders, a turtle species that is larger, breeds more prolifically, and is popular in the pet trade. 

"When people don't want (red-eared sliders) as pets, they have released them into our lakes and ponds that contain western painted turtles," said Prasad, "Unfortunately, because the red-eared sliders are a bit more prolific, they are essentially outcompeting western painted turtles."

The recovery operation is a joint program with the Coastal Painted Turtle Project and the B.C. government.

The juvenile turtles are released when they weigh about 50 grams, about the same weight as two double-A batteries. 

That's big enough to make them hard to eat for invasive predators, including largemouth bass and bullfrogs — when they hatch, the turtles are only about the size of a toonie, Prasad said. 

She said the project aims to give the turtles "that little extra boost in life to get over the tough times when they would normally be preyed upon."

Biologist Aimee Mitchell, a project manager for the Coastal Painted Turtle Project, has been working with the zoo.

A report authored by Mitchell says the project aims to recover 10 populations of the turtle and has "consistently met its objectives."

But it says the work needs to be ongoing.

"Due to the long-lived nature of western painted turtles and their slow reproductive rate it will take further efforts to ensure self-sustaining, healthy populations with the viability to persist into the future," the report says.

Prasad said people need to be mindful of the turtles and their nesting sites on freshwater beaches.

She said the turtles have a range of personalities, and some seem reluctant to leave when they are released. 

"You put them in the water, or you put them on the shore, and they linger around for a little bit. It's not a quick dash to run and hide," she said.

"They really look around and check out their area, go for a bit of a swim, and then come back to you, and just to see like, 'Oh, what are you doing? Is it OK for me to go out this way?' And then off they go."

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Michael Jacobsen