Slow down please. It’s turtle crossing season. Help protect our Northern Diamondback Terrapin friends cross the busy roadways of Ventnor.
Turtles are on the move once the weather gets warm—but sometimes, a road or a highway stands between them and their destination.
Speeding traffic and slow-moving turtles don’t mix, and many turtles are severely injured or killed on roads every year.
Even if their shells are crushed, turtles can remain alive for days or even weeks in agonizing pain because they have such slow metabolisms.
If you see a turtle on or near a road, take action!
Always keep them moving in the same direction that they were headed. Do not try to make them change course, as they have a destination in mind and will simply try to cross the road again if placed back where they started from. Once they’re safe on the other side, leave them alone.
Don’t relocate turtles to new areas, even if you think their current location is odd (unless it is obviously hazardous, such as a busy parking lot).
Moving them to an unfamiliar location can subject them to foreign diseases and parasites that they lack a natural immunity to, so that should be avoided.