The Six Mile Lake Conservationists Club along with the Toronto Zoo need your help!

As supporting members of the Toronto Zoo, Frog and Turtle Tally team and Kids for Turtles we urge you to comment and be part of the the process to remove turtles from the hunting regulations and certainly in our parks and conservations areas.

This is only the beginning of a long process to remove snapping turtles from the hunting regulations in Ontario, however it is a start.

The government of Ontario is considering allowing the harvest of Snapping Turtles from Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park, the largest park in Ontario south of Algonquin Provincial Park.

We share the concern that snapping turtles should be protected in parks. If you share this concern as well, please make your feelings known to the government. Here are some points to consider:

• The Snapping Turtle may take 15 or more years to mature at the northern part of its range.
• The Snapping Turtle is adapted to high mortality of eggs and hatchlings. To compensate for this adults require low rates of mortality so that some nests will be successful over the years. Snapping Turtles can live for more than 50 years, and possibly more than 100 years.
• Even small increases in adult mortality rates can lead to populations declining.
• There are a number of other threats turtles face within the park including roads and traffic mortality. Many of the turtles
  killed on roads are adult females looking for a place to lay their eggs.
• The harvest of Snapping Turtles within the park also poses a risk to the Blanding’s turtle, a nationally threatened species.
  Any harvest technique which catches and kills snapping turtles could also lead to the death of Blanding’s turtles.

To find out more about the province’s plan for this park and to make comments go to the following website:
http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/

Be sure to type in EBR registry number: 010-4911 “Amendment to Regulation under Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 to Change Hunting Opportunities for Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park”

Comments can be submitted online until December 8th.