Last year was a record year for admissions at KTTC. We anticipate that admissions will continue to increase due to increasing awareness of our presence throughout Ontario. In order to keep up, and to ensure turtles receive timely care, we are increasing our partnerships with other facilities. We have provided Turtle Trauma Workshops and now have a network [...]
Snapping Turtle on a Road Shoulder (photo: Christine Jennings) Ontario has eight native turtle species, seven of which have been listed by both the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and by the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) as species at risk. Turtles [...]
Turtles and tortoises are among the most endangered group of vertebrate animals in the world: more than half of the 328 known species are threatened with extinction. In Ontario, road mortality is one of the leading threats to turtles - but it is not the only one. Despite being listed as a species of special [...]
Turtles in Ontario face many challenges, but probably the most obvious is the interaction of turtles with roads as they move to access resources. As more and more roads are built that bisect turtle habitat the probability that a turtle will collide with a vehicle increases. Turtles are especially vulnerable to vehicle collisions because females [...]
KTTC Medical Director Dr Carstairs is one busy lady - not only does she run the turtle care program at KTTC, she also works at Toronto Wildlife Centre and teaches future vet techs at Seneca College. And yet she's managed to squeeze in some self-funded travel over the past year to both learn from and [...]
A long time member of the KTTC emailed us this wonderful photo of a Snapping Turtle on a golf course. This struck us as a perfect opportunity to remind all you turtle lovers out there that one of the most important things that anyone can do to help turtles is to report your observations to [...]
Dr Kristy Hiltz was one of the founders - and the orginal vet - of the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre. And she continues to help the KTTC in many ways, including collecting donations from customers and selling trauma centre merchandise! So, if you want one of our spiffy new shirts - but don't want to [...]
Eco-Kare in cooperation with the Ontario Road Ecology Group and other partners (including KTTC!) is creating an inventory of the approximately 700 turtle crossing signs in Ontario to determine where and how they are placed in the landscape. The project is funded by the 2011 Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) Highway Infrastructure Innovation Funding Program [...]
We were extremely lucky this year to again be selected as a host work placement for two Canada World Youth Students! Valérie Savane and Stellah Mokiwa volunteered three full days a week for the last nine weeks and are now moving on to the next stage of their program – all the way to Africa! [...]
2009 was a very exciting year for the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre (KTTC). Although we were forced to relocate at the height of turtle nesting season, we still managed to admit over 65 turtles with the help of other wildlife rehabilitators, the Riverview Park & Zoo, and a dedicated crew of volunteer "turtle [...]
The Toronto Star published a feature on turtle rehabilitation today! Read the article
There may be no bigger threat to Ontario's turtles than that of busy roads and highways. Countless turtles every year are run over and killed on Ontario's roads. 6 of 8 turtle species are threatened, and those most often killed are females travelling to nesting areas. The loss of females in particular is devastating to [...]
