City sets up barricades to protect clutch of eggs
Barrie’s waterfront is a family-friendly kind of place.
Now a different kind of family has taken an interest in the area: snapping turtles.
Over the weekend, a female laid her eggs in a parking lot beside Lakeshore Drive across from Kempenfelt Bay.
As is their way, momma snappers bury the eggs and then leave them to their own devices to make their way to a shoreline.
“We did receive a call on the weekend and our officer attended,” said Tammy Banting, manager of the city’s bylaw services.
“Once on site, the officer requested that operations (road patrol) assist by barricading the area around where the eggs were laid. The barricades were requested to keep the eggs as safe as possible for the time being.”
That’s a good start, according to Jeff Hathaway, owner/operator of Scales Nature Park near Orillia.
Snapping turtles are a ‘special concern’ species on the species-at-risk list, which also includes threatened and endangered species, he said.
“Snapping turtles are far from endangered, but their numbers are dropping dramatically so that’s why they are considered a concerned species,” Hathaway said, adding a ‘clutch’ usually has between 20 and 40 eggs, which are about the same size and similar in appearance to a ping pong ball.
The eggs should hatch by the end of the summer.
“They pick a sunny spot, dig in and lay the eggs,” he said. “It takes about 60 days, it’s temperature dependent. If it’s colder it will take longer. After they’re born, the babies will wander down to the lake.”
Before they hatch, the eggs are susceptible to predators such as raccoons, skunks and opossums. they emerge and crawl away, those predators could include any kind of animal that craves a meaty morsel.
Ensuring they have a chance to get to the lake will be the challenge, Hathaway said.
“The city might consider putting a protective cage around the eggs. They’d have to go back to check on it from time to time,” he said.
After they break out of their eggs, by keeping them contained the baby turtles can get the help they need to make it to the water, he added.
“The city will need a permit from the Ministry of Natural Resources to put a cage over them,” he said.
Moving the eggs prior to them hatching might be an option if they are deemed to be in imminent harm although a call to the MNR would still be appropriate, he added.
Certainly Barrie is not the only city that has dealt with animals on the species at risk list.
The Town of South Bruce Peninsula was honoured earlier this year for its work in protecting the endangered piping plover.
The small bird is protected under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act and federally under the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Species at Risk Act.
The birds have returned to nest at Sauble Beach since 2007, when a pair became the first piping plovers to successfully nest on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes since 1977.
Since the birds have been nesting at the beach, extra efforts have gone into protecting them.
When the birds settle in each year, a large area is fenced off to keep people away and a wire cage is placed over the nest to protect the birds and eggs from predators.
Volunteers monitor the birds, watching over them and educating the public about the situation.
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