After an unconventional start to their lives, five tiny turtle hatchlings are busy exploring their temporary habitat at a wildlife rehabilitation centre. The B.C. Wildlife Park shared the story behind the reptile rescue on social media earlier this week. In June, a Western painted turtle was hit by a driver and brought to the park’s Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre in Kamloops. “Sadly, her injuries were too severe for her to recover,” a Facebook post from the park said, adding “during her examination, our team discovered she was carrying five eggs.” The eggs were removed and placed in an incubator with a temperature of 28 C, and staff at the centre settled in to wait and see whether any would hatch. The first egg hatched on Aug. 5, followed by the other four over the next few days. “Sometimes, even in the most difficult moments, there is still hope,” an online update from the B.C. Wildlife Park earlier this week said. The plan is to monitor and care for the reptiles until they can be safely released back into the wild—in the area where the mother was found, which is aptly named Turtle Valley. “While we couldn’t save their mother, we’re grateful to give her hatchlings the opportunity to continue her story in the wild,” the wildlife park said in a post. The Pacific population of Western Painted turtles is designated as threatened by the federal government, meaning “the long-term persistence of the Canadian population remains precarious.” One of the factors cited as driving the turtles’ decline is “road mortality,” which is common for females in “human-dominated landscapes” during nesting season—when they leave the water to seek out a place to lay their eggs.
