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On 6/30/2014 6:13 PM, David & Alison Webster wrote:
> I noticed on a post to naturens recently that (from the NS Museum
> of NH site)--
> "It may seem harmless to keep a turtle as a pet for a while, but this is
> not a good idea. Two of the province's four turtle species are already
> at risk in Nova Scotia. It is likely that removal of turtles by people
> is part of the reason, for Wood Turtles."
> I expect this supposition rests in part on your 1984
> statement (Amphibians and Reptiles of Nova Scotia p. 148) that--
> "Another problem facing the Wood Turtle is the removal of many
> individuals from their habitat by people while on fishing trips or
> camping trips" which are then subsequently "released in the woods many
> kilometers from its natural habitat."
> Perhaps you can provide some details of the observations on which
> your above statement was based.
* the story is told, though I don't have the reference at hand, of a
municipal drinking water-shed reserve in Connecticut, where, in the
glorious germ-phobia of the 1920s, all random human access was
prohibited. A student studied the Wood Turtles there, and found a
certain population.
Then in the we'd-never-think-of-pooping-in-the-woods of the 1980s, that
reserve was opened to hiking and biking and all, without otherwise
changing the habitat, and the Wood Turtles declined at a rate of 15%/yr,
until they were gone.
I believe there's numerous places where similar declines due to casual
pet-taking have been observed, though this case would seem to be
exceptionally well documented.
fred.
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Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
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Vulnerable Watersheds - http://vulnerablewaters.blogspot.ca/
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