Kathlean Wolf
Wild Warner
This June and July, please watch out for mother turtles crossing roads. If you can stop to help, carefully move the turtle to the side of the road they were heading toward, even if they are heading away from the water.
While painted turtles are fairly harmless; snapping turtles and softshell turtles have a powerful bite and a much longer necks than you’d expect. Small turtles can be picked up by the very back of their shell and carried to their destination. With larger, heavier turtles, people have used a number of strategies, such as dragging the turtle from behind onto a rug, then pullng the rug across the road, or just dragging the turtle backward (which risks damage to their chest scutes, but much less damage than being hit by a car).
If you see a turtle that’s been hit by a car, even if it’s recently dead, call the Dane County Humane Society’s Wildlife Center at 608-287-3235. The turtle may contain eggs that can be incubated, hatched and returned to their pond.
Want to do even more to help these unique aquatic predators? Visit the DNR’s Wisconsin Turtle Conservation Project on the DNR website to report sightings of turtle crossings or car-struck turtles, and to learn how to protect turtle nests from predators.
