Turtle Taxi volunteers cross the province on lifesaving missions

A spry fellow makes a break for it across dangerous terrain. Roads aren’t the best place for turtles to be – these guys need the help of services like the Turtle Taxi if things go wrong. Photo courtesy of Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre.

By Jacob Willis

BELLEVILLE – The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre in Peterborough stands as the province’s lone hospital specializing in turtle rehabilitation. It’s a beacon of hope for the droves of turtles that will inevitably cross paths with cars in the coming months as we reach peak nesting season.

But for our poor reptilian friends here in Belleville (or anywhere outside the Peterborough area), a trek across the road can still be a death sentence. The turtle conservation centre is over 100 kilometres away from Belleville. Even if a kind soul stops to bring an injured turtle to a local vet clinic or animal sanctuary, much of the time the best those workers can do without proper surgical equipment or training is to ease the animal’s pain as it dies. 

Enter the Turtle Taxi program.

This interconnected network of volunteers, 800 strong, is hell-bent on giving all injured turtles in Ontario a right to life. Every busted shell from Kenora to Ottawa is probably within range of one of these saviours. When a hurt turtle is found and Turtle Taxi is contacted (at 705-741-500), the nearest member will embark on the mission of transporting the patient to Peterborough for proper treatment at the conservation centre. 

Sometimes the journey is made in one trip by a single resolute philozoic; other times the distance requires a team of drivers to relay the turtle(s).

Among the Turtle Taxi drivers is Sandy Elder, a self-employed landscaper in Apsley, in northern Peterborough County. Elder tells harrowing stories of hundred-kilometre marathons with a van full of scared, angry snapping turtles who may never understand the kindness of their captor. But in the words of Mother Teresa, your true character is most accurately measured by how you treat those who can do nothing for you in return.

“I’ve been on the road 10 to 12 hours a day some summers,” Elder told QNet News Wednesday. “I would be anywhere and everywhere – wherever there were turtles that needed to be picked up.”

Elder was quick to divert the attention to her peers, downplaying her contributions as a mere function of her civic duty.

“(The program is) a fine-tuned machine,” Elder said. “Like with all social causes, it takes a village. There are a lot of good Samaritans involved here.”

Belleville residents with signs donated by the Think Turtle Conservation Initiative championing turtle safety around Belleville. Photo courtesy of the  Think Turtle Conservation Initiative

These efforts are not done in vain. Kelly Wallace, managing director of Think Turtle Conservation Initiative, says that the Turtle Taxi network helped the centre save upwards of 1,100 turtles last year alone.

“You wouldn’t believe it. I’ve seen turtles so smashed up, you think, ‘There’s no way they’ll make it.’ And then they bounce back,” Wallace said. “Turtles are such good healers. We just need to get them proper care.”

Wallace’s Bancroft-based organization raises money and awareness for the conservation centre as well as programs such as the Turtle Taxi network. It scored victories within Belleville recently ‒ just last week, it was permitted to post “Watch 4 Turtles” signs across the city in areas they frequent. In 2020, the conservation initiative put up temporary fencing around the Moira River after a deteriorating retainer wall led to turtle accidents on Front Street. No turtles have been reported on that road since. 

“That’s just what we do,” Wallace said. “It’s not easy, but we troubleshoot those kinds of concerns all across Ontario.”

Should you come across an injured turtle yourself, you can help. Call the conservation centre’s emergency response line at 705-741-5000 to order a volunteer just like Sandy Elder, and get Franklin back on his feet.