May is turtle season: Tips on what to do if you find one

Petey is a painted turtle with a badly deformed shell, not because of an injury but because he was taken from the wild and held in a tank on a windowsill for seven years.

Turtles need both UVA and UVB light in order to digest their food and get adequate nutrients - sunlight coming through glass is not enough.

Unfortunately, the person who took Petey from the wild as a free pet did not provide what he needed, so his shell did not develop correctly. Now he lives with a wildlife rehabber and helps provide an educational lesson for others.

Removing turtles from the wild could expose you and your family to health risks. Turtles are known carriers of salmonella. Just recently, Maryland documented several cases that were related to turtles. Young children and/or individuals with compromised immune systems are most susceptible. To keep your family healthy, frequent water changes, proper care, constant hand washing and sanitizing anything you touch after handling a turtle (even a doorknob) are vital.

Why couldn’t Petey be released? In Delaware, as in many other states, it is illegal to take a turtle, or any reptile or amphibian, from the wild, hold it 30 days or more, and then release it back into the wild. The animal could have developed a disease due to inadequate diet or care or because it came into contact with a whole host of pathogens in the human environment that it wouldn’t encounter in the wild. If released, it could pass the disease on to wild populations.

Eastern box turtles are often collected from roadways or lawns and kept as pets. This is cited as one reason for their declining populations. In addition to disease problems such as iridovirus (a family of pathogenic viruses that affects reptiles, amphibians and fish and can cross species barriers), box turtles have another problem. Their home ranges are small, about two acres, and include water, food and hibernation sites that they know.

If a box turtle is collected from one location and released in another, it will search for its home territory the rest of its life; that means crossing roads, which often results in death by automobile.

Know your laws...

Wildlife belongs in the wild - even if you think their choice of habitat is unsafe (near a busy road, etc). Here are a couple regulations, designed to protect wildlife and the environment, you should be aware of before you pick that turtle up:

• It is illegal to sell native species (except with documentation that the animal was legally purchased outside Delaware and all other local regulations are being followed)

• It is illegal to even collect their eggs or skins from the wild in Delaware without a permit

• It is illegal to breed any native amphibian and reptile species without a permit

• It is illegal to own even one of many of our native amphibian and reptile species without a permit

• It is illegal to release a native amphibian or reptile that has been in captivity for 30 days or more.

The future of turtles…

Human-related threats to turtles, whose ancestors have roamed the Earth for millions of years, may be their demise. Being collected as pets, collisions with cars, pollution and destruction of their habitat are impacting many turtle populations.

This time of year, when turtles are out and about looking for egg-laying spots, it is important to know if a turtle should be left alone or needs help and should be taken to a wildlife rehabber. Should you want to rescue a turtle needing rehabilitation, it is important to note the exact location of where you picked it up. Without this information, the turtle cannot be returned to the wild. Don’t let your good deed result in a permanently displaced turtle.

Some tips to help decide to rescue or not….

Leave alone:

• Found on the side of the road with no injuries - if it's safe for you, move turtle across the road in the direction it is heading, and leave alone.

• Laying eggs in yards - leave alone and let her finish. If you want to help, cover the area with chicken wire to protect from raccoons and dogs. Hatchlings can escape through the wire and no parental care is needed.

• Caught by hook and line while fishing – try to remove the hook and release, or cut hook as close as possible to mouth and release.

• Baby terrapin found at the beach - release under vegetation near the edge of a bay or waterway (not ocean).

• An old injury which has healed, i.e. missing an eye or a leg.

Turtle rescue needed

• Obvious wounds or disease, e.g. cracked shell, bleeding wounds, maggots, or mucus discharge from nose.

• Box turtles with tumor-like growths on sides of their heads.

• New injury involving missing eye or missing leg (bone protruding/bleeding)

• Back legs not working.

• Gaping of mouth and/or fungus-like growth inside mouth noticed while mouth is already open (do not pry open mouth to check)

If undecided as to whether a turtle needs help or not, contact a wildlife rehabilitator listed on www.DEwildliferescue.com.

For more information, contact Cathy Martin at 302-674-9131 or 302-735-8658, or Vickie Henderson at 302-632-0304 or 302-735-8657.