RARE WESTERN POND TURTLES IN E. COUNTY-Animals are part of conservation effort - via Herp Digest

By Karen Pearlman5:05 a.m.Aug. 7, 2014

Five rare Western pond turtles are going to be watched closely in East County for the foreseeable future.

The Western pond turtles, listed as a “Species of Special Concern” by the state, were released July 31 into the Sycuan Peak Ecological Preserve near the Cleveland National Forest.

They are part of the San Diego Zoo’s “headstart” program, which involves raising hatchlings of a large enough size and releasing them into the wild, giving them a better chance of surviving and fending off natural predators.

Since 2009, the zoo has been in a joint program with a team consisting of California Department of Fish & Wildlife, San Diego Association of Governments and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center.

Miniature radio transmitters were fitted on the shells of the five juvenile turtles released to help scientists track their whereabouts, activity levels and to regularly check on the turtles’ growth, physical health and behavior. The transmitters were applied with a silicone sealant that allows the turtles’ shells to grow and expand, even with the transmitter device attached to it.

The team in 2013 released its first group of Western pond turtles — which when hatched are no larger than a quarter. The turtles were raised away from the public at the zoo for a little more than three years before their introduction to the wild.

The Western pond turtles are California’s only native freshwater turtles, and have been around for more than 10,000 years, according to Tommy Owens, senior keeper with the San Diego Zoo’s Department of Herpetology.

Once abundant along the West Coast from Mexico to Canada, they are preyed on by largemouth bass, catfish, bullfrogs, garter snakes, herons and egrets. The shy and protective turtles have also been suffering from habitat loss. A spokesman from the Department of Fish and Wildlife said that a “lucky” pond turtle can live 70 years in the wild.

A 2003 study detected just over 120 Western pond turtles, including only 18 females in five locations in San Diego County. The cool water pond in the reserve where the turtles were released has myriad shady plants and submerged logs as well as insects for the turtles to eat. Because pond turtles are shy, females will not lay eggs if they experience stress of any kind. If they wait too long, the eggs are reabsorbed back into their bodies.

“Along with (the U.S. Geological Survey group) we’re able to monitor these turtles with their radio transmitters and check on them periodically to see how they’re doing,” Owens said. “It’s really important here at the beginning of the release, because the turtles might not stay put and we want to be able to find them easily. Through radio tracking we can see the use of habitat, their behaviors and check on their overall well being.”

The project is testing conservation strategies to help Western pond turtles and other native species, since many California ecosystems are being affected by invasive, nonnative species accidentally or intentionally introduced by humans.