Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

When driving, have you ever spied something ahead of you in the road and thought was a shadow, but once you got closer you realized it was a turtle? I have seen the outcome of turtle car collisions. The turtle never wins.

03— So, what do you do if you find a turtle in the road?

That’s exactly my question to you, herpetologist, Andy Gluesenkamp. What do you do?

10—My advice is, if conditions allow and it’s safe to do so, move the turtle in the direction it was going. But, don’t do anything that would put you and the turtle at risk.

If it’s dark or rainy outside, or if you’re on a busy road where drivers may not see you until it’s too late, as much as it might pain you, leave the turtle. Don’t risk it. But why are turtles crossing the road?

11— You may find female turtles crossing the road, either going to or coming from laying eggs. Or, later in the season, you may find hatchlings crossing the road, returning to water.

Andy Gluesenkamp demonstrates the safest way to move a turtle from the road during a segment on the TPW PBS TV series the week of November 16.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2014 at 12:00 am and is filed under TPWD TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.