Turtles of Central Park

A number of New York Turtle & Tortoise Society members met up this Saturday, May 12 in Central Park. Purpose: to look for turtles!

We were led by turtle conservationists Pete Warny and Jay Westerveld, who first took us to Turtle Pond, right by the Delacourte Theater.

  Jay (at left) and Pete.

It was a beautiful, warm day and dozens of turtles were basking
right below the observation deck.


Turtles were also hanging out with a friendly cormorant.


Climbing to the top of Belvedere Castle, which overlooks the pond, we saw even more turtles, mostly red-eared sliders.
  

From there we walked over to Bethesda Fountain and Central Park Lake and saw turtles galore.
The sad part of the story is that most of these animals are pets that have been abandoned by their owners when they grew too large, or the owners grew tired of caring for them.  Still, these are NYC survivors!

A selection of photos from yesterday's 2011 NYTTS Turtle Show

 

 

LI Turtle Rescue Party

Turtle Rescue of LI held its annual summer BBQ yesterday. Always a fun time and an opportunity to talk “turtle” to our heart’s content.

Conversations participated in or overheard:

“I pick up the worms [that I feed to the turtles] with my hands.”

“Oh, I’d never do that; too gross. I always use tongs.”

“Ohh, Russian tortoises. They’re my favorites.”

“That sulcata tortoise over there…? He figured out how to climb out of the enclosure. We fixed it so he couldn’t, but he keeps on trying. Once they get an idea in their heads…”

“I’m trying to convince my friends that eight turtles is not a lot, but they just don’t believe me.”