Turtle Guardians

Have you seen turtles on the road, in wetlands, or simply wandering through your property.

• Report your sightings through our member reporting page, or
• by downloading the Ontario Nature Reptile and Amphibian App.

If you are a Turtle Guardian, you can simply add your TG number in place of your name.

 

Walks raised awareness, funding and hope!

Last year The Land Between charity and with The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (home of the Turtle Trauma Centre) declared a state of emergency for Ontario’s turtles. This was because there were unprecedented numbers of turtles killed on roads and brought into the trauma centre for treatment.  Turtles can live for more than 100 years, some research suggests they live for more than 400 years, and Indigenous Peoples around the world state that they live 1000 years. Turtles need to live a long time because it takes between 30 and 80 years of laying eggs in order for a turtle to replace itself with one new turtle. Therefore, turtles killed on roads or taken out of the wilderness are a threat to the population. The Land Between bioregion, from the Ottawa valley to the Georgian Bay coast is home to more than 1/3 of all of Ontario’s turtles. It is turtle country! If there is hope to save these species it is here and this hope is well placed in the hands of our kids; our next generations.

In response, the Turtle Guardians program launched Turtle Walks. 2018 was the first year and we will make these an annual events. Turtle Walkers raise pledges totaling more than $5000.00 in support of the Tunnel and Trauma Campaign (half funds support “prevention” - turtle tunnels  and half funds support “cure” - trauma care).  “These walks raised funding, but also a lot of awareness and hope for kids and turtles too.”  Leora Berman, Turtle Guardians founder and The Land Between COO.

See the event yearbook and donate to our cause by visiting www.turtlewalk.ca

 

We are pleased and humbled to be awarded a 3-year Grow Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Over these years, the Turtle Guardian partners will be developing curriculum for Guardians, recruiting and education Guardians, creating online database management and frameworks, creating cool apps for Guardians to track their actives, and running outreach programs such as our Annual Awards Gala and our Turtle Walks...and plenty more.

Stay tuned as we tool up!