Hope for Wildlife (20180419) The Turtle Patrol's first visit

Thanks to Clarence's many years of contact with Hope, he was able to get us a visit and personal tour of their turtle facilities. I wish to note here that we were treated very well and even took part in their daily scrum, that deals with issues and emergencies.

Here is a look at a couple of the wonderful tubs that they have for the larger turtles.

They have wonderful care and attention daily, with lots to eat. Can you find Waldo in here?

These shots are actually were actually taken on the 23rd as I had returned to get some swabs of the turtles, reasons for that will be explained in a future post.
So now I have to introduce you all the volunteers that contributed to the cause. We (Jenna, Nicole and I) started with the smallest of Snappers that was readily available.

What a ferocious sweetie. This little guy is only about 8 months old and growing like a bad weed. This is all due to a "head start" program. That is where they keep them awake and fed through the winter so they have a great start to the spring. Here is turtle number two.

Next up were a couple of young snappers that had been turned in to Hope as they were being kept by a private individual as pets. This one had a stubby little tail as a result of being kept with other larger snappers.

Aren't these little "grizzlies" neat?  Let me tell you that they are lightening fast even at this age and Jenna had to be careful when holding them.

Here is the largest of the turtles that we swabbed  on this day. Another wonderful speedy striking killer, that is just trying to earn a living. 

This won't be the last time you get to see these beauties. The Turtle Patrol will be there with Hope and the crew when these guys are released into the wild, and I am expecting to be taking photos.
I want to thank Michelle and Susan as well as Jenna and Nicole for all their help today!
Yours in Turtling,
Turbo

2017 Summary of activity for The Turtle Patrol

Clarence has been hard at work summarizing our 2017 efforts. One Stat we haven't captured yet is total hours of effort, we will need to do a better job of recording that for 2018

Hello fellow Turtle Patrollers, our combined efforts thus far have produced the following results: :)

We have gathered data on 274 locations.
We have discovered 42 breeding areas.
We have documented 113 nests. 
We have recorded the predation of 70 nests.
We have located 40 successful nests.
We have noted 1 failed nest not associated with predation.
We have assigned unknown status to 2 nests.
And most importantly we have saved almost 200 turtles! (191 to be exact).

Thank You all for a job well done and I look forward to getting out looking for turtles with each of you in 2018. We have a lot of exciting things planned for this year. The map below represents the counties where we have carried out surveys thus far. More news and plans for Spring Surveys to pop up soon. 

As you can see, we also did patrols in 10 of the counties here. We covered a lot of ground, and I am certain will cover even more in the upcoming year. 

I have dubbed 2018-- The year of growth!

Happy turtling!

:)