Published May 13, 2024

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The Organisation du Bassin versant de la Baie-Missisquoi (OBVBM) is partnering with the Granby Zoo to improve survival rates for a rare species of turtle in the Pike River watershed.

The Eastern spiny softshell turtle is considered endangered in Canada, and the Pike River, Missisquoi Bay and Lake Champlain watersheds are home to Quebec’s only viable Eastern spiny softshell turtle population. The mother turtles, who don’t lay their first eggs until about the age of 15, lay their eggs about 50 metres from the riverbank, and floods mean some baby turtles drown before they hatch. Juvenile and adult turtles are at risk from predators and boat propellers.

Biologist Patrick Paré is the director of the research and conservation department of the Granby Zoo. “The first thing you have to understand about the eastern spiny softshell turtle is that it’s a softshell turtle,” he said, emphasizing the fact that boat propellers can cut through the turtles’ shells and cause serious injury or death.

He said there are only about 300 eastern spiny softshell turtles left in the area, including as few as ten egg-laying females. Juvenile survival rates are also low. “The babies weigh only six or seven grams…and if we release 2,000 babies, we get 50 adult turtles.”

The Granby Zoo project, run annually since 2009 and funded for the next three years by the OBVBM, involves monitoring turtle nesting sites along the Pike River, removing the eggs to be incubated in a lab and releasing juvenile turtles back into the wild.  Paré said researchers spend ten hours a day observing riverside nesting sites in June in order to bring eggs to the lab.

In 2023, 209 young turtles whose eggs were incubated at the Granby Zoo lab were released into the river. “By protecting eggs from threats such as predation and significant fluctuations in water levels caused by climate change, the program aims to preserve this emblematic species of the region,” OBVBM communications and mobilization coordinator Julie Reinling said in a statement.

The OBVBM also plans to keep working with boaters to raise awareness of the threat turtles face from boat propellers and stress created by vibration and noise from boats. In 2023, the organization surveyed over 1,500 boaters, of which just over half were aware of the presence of the endangered turtle. Four out of five were willing to reduce their speed to 10 km/hour to decrease the risk of turtle collisions.

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