The Oregon Zoo, with the help of volunteers and conservation specialists, released 22 endangered northwestern pond turtles back into the Columbia River Gorge. The area offers ideal habitat for them: a warm climate, rocky banks for nesting and slow-moving stretches of river with abundant aquatic vegetation. The region links Washington and Oregon, creating a corridor for migration and population recovery — bald eagles, salmon, North American beavers and rare plants live here, making the gorge a key biodiversity zone.
The reptiles were collected last year as hatchlings by biologists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. They were then transferred to the zoo’s laboratory, where under heat lamps and with plentiful food the turtles grew much faster than they would in the wild. The Seattle zoo is also actively involved in rescuing the species, breeding turtles in captivity and then releasing juveniles back into the wild. Cooperation with regional agencies, such as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, allows coordination of population monitoring, habitat protection and control of invasive predators — actions that are critical to the species’ survival.
“Over the course of a year they reached sizes that in the wild they normally don’t reach until three years old,” explained Jen Osborn Eliot, curator of the turtle conservation program. “This sort of ‘head-starting’ in the lab significantly increases their chances of survival in the wild.” The northwestern pond turtle is listed as endangered in Washington state and is considered a vulnerable species in Oregon.
The main threats to these reptiles are invasive American bullfrogs, introduced from the eastern U.S., as well as raccoons. These largest amphibians on the continent, weighing more than half a kilogram (about 1.1 pounds), actively eat small turtles. “The bigger the turtle, the harder it is for a bullfrog to swallow it,” Eliot noted. The recovery program began in 1991, when only about 150 individuals remained in the wild. Since then, the Portland and Seattle zoos, together with local authorities, have released more than 1,600 turtles into the gorge.
Today the northwestern pond turtle population numbers about 800 individuals, and nearly all of them are the result of this program. Before release, specialists gradually acclimate the animals to outdoor conditions, changing their diet and giving them time outside. “Every turtle released matters,” Eliot emphasized. “We must continue our work to save this species.”
Based on: Oregon Zoo returns endangered turtles to the Columbia River Gorge