Help Us Help Wildlife

December, 2022

Dear Friend of Aark,

The upcoming holidays provide a time to reflect, be thankful and to gather with friends and family. At Aark, as we reflect on the past year, we are thankful for your patience and kindness as we navigated newly emerging wildlife diseases and their challenges. As always, your continued support as part of Aark’s family is truly appreciated. Families form in every species and each season our staff does its best to keep our animal families together. Sometimes all that is needed is a helping hand to reunite a wild baby with its parents. Other times our volunteers take tragic situations that result in orphaned babies to create new families that allow our wild babies to grow and succeed to adulthood.

One day, late in June, the volunteers at Aark were presented with a large snapping turtle that had been hit by a car and smashed as a result. Her shell was broken, bones were protruding and several organs were exposed. It was clear that she would not survive her injuries. During her exam, we discovered she was carrying ten unhatched eggs nestled inside her. She must have been on her way to lay her eggs safely in the dirt to incubate until the day they would hatch and begin their monumental journey to water. But now, without intervention, her babies faced certain death.

The importance of snapping turtles in our waterways is widely misunderstood and they are often feared as dangerous and aggressive animals. This is not true. Snapping turtles primarily eat vegetation such as algae, cat tails and lily pads. They also eat invertebrates and frogs, which helps to keep these prolific breeders’ populations in balance. In the water, they are slow and graceful and prefer to swim away from any aggressor. They only become agitated when they are on dry land in a vulnerable situation and have no other defense. Sadly, most baby snapping turtles do not survive to adulthood as they are predated by many animals such as largemouth bass, snakes, large birds and even raccoons.

Recognizing the dire situation of the turtle and her potential offspring, our quick thinking staff carefully harvested all ten eggs and placed them in an incubator. There was nothing to do now but wait. Four months later, on October 7^th, all ten eggs hatched! These tiny but mighty creatures will stay at Aark over the winter, giving them a head start and a better chance for survival in the wild. Even though we were not able to save the mother, her ten babies will get a second chance to thrive. Once again, a tragedy was turned into a new family; different, but no less important.

Thank you for being part of Aark’s family. Your support is critical to help us continue to treat the thousands of animals in need of care just like these tiny turtles. Please consider a donation today to help us help wildlife. Thank you for being part of our family and caring for the wildlife around you.

Sincerely,

Leah Stallings

Executive Director