Turtle eggs at Petrie Island get tender loving care

It's toughout there for unhatched turtle eggs, but a group of conservationistsistrying to make it easier at Petrie Island.

The popular beachesin east Ottawa arehome to three of the eight turtle species found in Ontario:snapping turtles, painted turtles and northern map turtles.

Shy eastern musk turtles and Blanding's turtles (a threatened species) could frequent Petrie Islandtoo, but that'sunclear.

The turtles lay eggsevery spring, but up to 95 per cent of clutches can be destroyed by predators such as skunks and raccoons, according to biologist Malcolm Fenech, aleader forthe Petrie Island Turtle Project.

To help get more eggs to hatch, project membershave beengathering eggs to incubate themselves, indoors, in Tupperware containersfilled with dampvermiculite toprevent them from drying out completely.

The goal of the project isn't to increase the populations of the turtles, Fenech said, butto slow their decline.

Fenech said it's "very time consuming" to hunt for nests. "The easiest way is actually coming up on a turtle laying the eggs," he said, but that's hard to do.

Thankfullythe Petrie Island community has been supportive, alerting the team to nest locationson social media, Fenech said.

About 400 eggs have been collected and placed in an incubator the size of a bar fridge at the offices of the Ottawa Riverkeeper, just off the Sir George-tienne Cartier Parkway in Rockcliffe.

Not only do they manage to hatch about 90 per cent of the eggs they collect, they can also help determine how many eggs become male and female.

The hotter it is, the more females are created. The cooler it is, the more males are created.

Fenech said they keep the temperature at about 28C, which results in clutches that are about 60 percent female and40 per cent male.

After they hatch, the young turtles willbe released on specific dates in August. The dates will be announced in advance so that interested residents can come and watch.

When they're released, the rest is up to them.

"I wish we could protect them a little bit better when they are hatchlings, but they do need to learn to be on their own," Fenech said.