On June 30, a Wood Turtle was admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. The turtle was being tracked in West Virginia by a graduate student with Ohio University, as a part of an ongoing Wood Turtle study with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources.
The female Wood Turtle, admitted as patient #14-1495, had a very swollen left hind limb. Dr. Rich Sim, the Center’s veterinary fellow, examined and radiographed the Wood Turtle. He found that the turtle had a fractured femur – and was also gravid with 10 eggs. Dr. Rich started the turtle on a course of pain medications, anti-inflammatories, and fluids. The veterinary team plans to take the turtle to surgery during the week of July 7 to repair the fracture by pinning it. If the turtle’s leg is unable to be successfully repaired by pinning the fracture, the leg will need to be amputated. The team will watch the turtle closely for laid eggs; the eggs will then be "planted" in moist, sandy material and transferred to one of the researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
Wood Turtles are semi-aquatic turtles and prefer riparian habitats and marshes. It’s said that Wood Turtles don’t live in “ugly places” – they need clean water, healthy forests, and undisrupted fields. The turtles range from one to six acres and are vulnerable to habitat degradation; females can move several kilometers to find the perfect, safe nesting spot to lay her eggs. Wood Turtles are omnivorous and eat a wide variety of plant material, berries, mollusks, dead fish, tadpoles, and earthworms. Research and observation has shown that Wood Turtles “stomp” for earthworms – they alternate their front feet to stomp on the ground, which causes vibrations that disturb the earthworms in the soil. The earthworms come to the surface – and make a meal for the turtle.
Wood Turtles are threatened in Virginia and in 2008 were named to the Top 10 Species in Need of Protection by the Endangered Species Coalition. According to Virginia Working Landscapes, “Conservationists feel there are two primary reasons for this decline – poaching of animals for the pet trade and habitat decline. In the commonwealth, populations are becoming limited to the western portion of the state due to development and urbanization in the east.” To read more about Wood Turtle conservation, read Troubled Times for Turtles, an article by Dr. Tom Akre.
A Wood Turtle mini-documentary: