Help us care for our amazing friends at the Headquarters. By adopting a turtle, you are helping us pay for physiotherapy, long-term care, medicines and food. Receive an adoption certificate and quarterly updates on the improvements and highlights in their lives.
Meet Jeremiah. Once thought to be a male, Jer had a x-ray that revealed she was carrying a latent egg. Although we now know she is a female, Jeremiah is still her name. Jer is a common snapping turtle. She is between 70 and 100 years old. She was “straddled” by a moving car; someone drove over her and thought that if she was kept between the tires she would be okay. Unfortunately, the vehicle's carriage crushed her top shell (carapace) and crushed her spine, and also clipped her tail. Jeremiah, obviously being scared, snapped and also lost a part of her beak. But thanks to caring folks at the Ontario Turtle Trauma Centre, Jeremiah was saved and we have adopted her as an ambassador turtle. Turtles can regrow nerve tissue and after 4 years in physiotherapy Jeremiah began moving her legs again. We put Jer on her skateboard three times a week to help her regain muscle memory and strength. She may walk again in another 4 years or more…the process is slow. Jeremiah is quite, gorgeous, gentle and loves her skateboard rides.
Timothy is extremely shy. He pretends that he is invisible when people are around but at night, when he thinks no one is looking, Timothy gets active. Using his tail and two front legs, Timothy climbs and scales the rocks in his tank and basks under his light- but only when no one is looking. As soon as someone shows their face, Timothy ducks under the water and closes his eyes. Timothy is a common snapping turtle that is over 100 years old and can be as old as 150 according to his size; which is large at 38cm length. Timothy was a victim of either a car or boating accident. Snapping turtles are very curious under water and quite gentle too. Timothy may have been looking around a dock or a boat launch area, when a boat motor clipped the end of his carapace removing half his top shell. Because the carapace is fused to their spine, Timothy has lost the use of his back legs. But that doesn’t stop him! Timothy has adapted; he pushes himself up and moves himself along with a muscular tail and front legs. What a wonder!
Figgy Duff and Beakler Snax The Rock Von Snappington are juvenile Common Snapping Turtles. They were found roaming around Salmonier Nature Park in Newfoundland. Snapping turtles are not native to Newfoundland and so the staff at the park took the turtles into their care and began to look for an organization who could adopt them. Once turtles are removed from their home territories, unless their point of origin is known, they cannot be reintroduced into nature. Turtles make mental maps of their territories and know where to eat, hibernate and bask. If removed, they cannot make new mental maps as adults and will be extremely stressed as they attempt to return home, and may not find suitable hibernation sites year after year. Figgy Duff is a female who is likely about 15 years old. She is very spry and energized, always curious and reactive. She is ready for anything! Beakler, on the other hand, is a a bit lazy! He is used to human interaction and doesn’t mind being held or hanging out with dogs and friends. But what Beakler loves the best is to hide away under his rock crevice all day.
Mica is simply the cutest turtle of all time. She is a juvenile Stinkpot turtle (aka Musk Turtle). Mica was born in captivity at Scales Nature Park where someone mistakenly put a male and female musk turtle together. With no point of origin Mica could not be released into nature. Mica is now 4 years old (born in 2016 in October). Mica is adorable. She will swim up to greet you and loves to say hello to all visitors. Mica swims and hunts for food all day long, digging between rocks and searching beneath branches. She sleeps in between the leaves of lilies under the water. Stinkpots are the only turtles in Ontario that can breath under water during the summer months because of specialized nodes on their tongues. 
Meet Otis and Betty. These two are red-eared sliders; pet turtles that originate from warmer climates such as Florida, and which are sold at pet stores. Otis and Betty are therefore not native to Ontario, but were found on roads. Otis was found on Highway 48 on the way to Orillia, and Betty on Highway 28 on the way to Peterborough. Often people will let their turtle pets go into the wild after they get too big or too old. Unfortunately this leads to many problems as Red-eared sliders can outcompete our native species for space and food, and they can also spread diseases. Therefore, when we found these two, we took them in to our centre where they could not harm our native habitats and populations, but where they could charm our guests. Betty is very old and her age is indeterminable. Otis is still a juvenile, likely around 13 years old as determined by his size and the ridges on his scutes.