How John Ball Zoo is working to protect spotted turtles

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A John Ball Zoo program is working to conserve spotted turtles in Michigan.

Turtles throughout the world are facing threats like predators and dangerous road crossings, and in Michigan, spotted turtles are a threatened species, the zoo said in a Monday release.

“Turtles are one of the most endangered groups of vertebrates, with their population numbers declining dramatically across the world,” John Ball Zoo Conservation Manager Bill Flanagan said in the release. “John Ball Zoo is working with our partners to preserve this key part of our biodiversity and have a big, positive impact for turtles.”

The zoo heads the Great Lakes Rare Turtle Program, which helps address the threats West Michigan turtles face. As part of the program, a team from the zoo and the Michigan Natural Features Inventory is currently working on collecting data on spotted turtles at multiple sites.

After finding a turtle, the team records information like its weight in order to learn more about their distribution and population. The data is then shared with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

To learn more about the zoo’s conservation projects, like watching for turtles at popular road crossings, go to jbzoo.org.

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