Turtle fencing

For the past three years now — the city of Burlington has shut down a portion of King Road in the spring help the local “Jefferson Salamander” population. And now in Dundas — protective fences have gone up to help protect endangered turtles as they try to cross the road.

Turtles have lived on earth for more than 200 million years — they even outlasted the dinosaurs. But according to the Ministry of Natural Resources many species of turtles may not outlast one more human generation In fact six out of eight species in Ontario are endangered or at risk. And at this time of year, turtles are on the move and that puts them in danger. This fence was put up to protect them.

Every car that rushes by this nesting area on Cootes Road is dangerous for the slow moving turtles. The Hamilton Conservation Authority says between 2009 and 2012, 25 turtles were killed trying to make the trek from Cootes Paradise to nesting beds along Spencer Creek. So over the last two days, a team of 7 community volunteers put up a fence to stop that.

Scott Peck is with the HCA: “Turtles will come to it, they’ll go along the fence until they find an opening to direct them away from crossing the road.”

And that’s important because many species like the Wood Turtle and the Spotted Turtle are endagered.

Scott said: “Turtles tend to be long living creatures and the time it takes for them to reach an adults size and mating takes a long time. So when one is killed, it takes a longer time for them to go through their life cycle.”

The fence cost $900 to intall and the Hamilton Conservation foundation put out an urgent call for funds on social media. Within a week, the money had been raised.

Scott said: “We actually received a little bit more money than what we were asking for to complete the project it really shows the interest in the public and the ability to get the message out quite quickly”

This fence will remain here until September when, hopefully the turtles have safely made the journey across the road.

The excess funds raised will go toward other conservation projects.