A wandering, endangered turtle discovered on the streets of Burnaby took an express ride across Canada to Ontario via FedEx.
The turtle was spotted on June 23rd strolling in a suburb and taken in by the Burnaby SPCA. The shelter then reached out to the Dewdney Animal Hospital in Maple Ridge and the Wildlife Rescue Association in order to try and identify the species.
Preservationists observe that the owners of the turtle did not take caring for the pet seriously, and that the animal reached the shelter in poor condition.
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Dr. Adrian Walton told CBC that the species, the North American Wood Turtle, is extremely endangered. The turtles faces threats from habitat loss, people capturing them as pets, road mortality, and from other animals, including other pets.
The Wood Turtle’s natural habitat expands from Ontario to Nova Scotia, and are not native to British Columbia. Ontario has implemented measures to try and save the species where they face near imminent extinction.
Dr. Walton informed CBC that the turtle arrived in a wildlife sanctuary in Severn, Ontario from a trip across Canada by FedEx through a service called Reptiles Express. The turtle will go on to help the sanctuary spread the message about Wood Turtle preservation in Canada and throughout the province of Ontario.
The reptile was affectionately named Burnaby after the shelter that first took him in.