A New Face in the Pond: The KTTC Family

Today is Family Day, and in the spirit of the holiday I’m going to share a little bit about one of our KTTC family members, Handsome Paddy the Snapping Turtle.

As you know, at the KTTC we believe wildlife belongs in the wild. We strive to release every turtle back to the location where it was found. However, in some situations these creatures cannot be released. Some have injuries that would make it impossible for them to live on their own. Others have been poached from the wild and sold in pet stores, with no way of knowing where the turtle was originally from from.

In Paddy’s case, the second situation applies. Paddy was purchased from a pet store by his adopted family over 29 years ago. Little did the family know it was illegal to keep a native turtle as a pet. Years later, they happened to attend a KTTC outreach event in Ottawa. After seeing the presentation, the family made the tough decision to surrender Paddy to KTTC. They knew it was in his best interest, and that he would be well taken care of.

Since he was admitted in May of 2012, Paddy has acted as an ambassador for his species. He accompanies the staff and volunteers on all outreaches to teach audiences about the myths associated with snapping turtles.

Volunteer Jacey Moore introducing Handsome Paddy to the crowd in November 2012.

Being the star of the outreach program is hard work, so the KTTC decided Paddy deserved a celebrity home. Paddy now has a great new habitat in the education centre here at the KTTC thanks to the generosity of the City of Peterborough and the hard work of George “Paddy” Harrison.

I was lucky enough to be here as he was introduced to his new, luxury accommodations. Take a look….

Paddy takes a second to check out his new home.