As many of you may have seen on NextDoor, the large snapping turtle that was lingering in and near the swimming area at the Paul Street beach has been caught and relocated away from Lake Waubeeka.
A huge thank you to Brian Guertin of Post Road who bravely captured the turtle and transported it to its new “home” approximately 1 mile from Lake Waubeeka (and thanks to Arthur Brody who acted as “turtle monitor” during the relocation). Brian is extremely knowledgeable about turtles and other forms of wildlife. Based on his assessment, this turtle is a male, approximately 60 years old and about 35 lbs. Brian has assured us that the turtle’s new home has plenty of his natural food source, other turtles of his species and size and provides way more protective cover than the lake.
People started feeding this turtle within the past 1-2 weeks, which encouraged the turtle to remain close to the shore at the Paul Street Beach. Unfortunately, the turtle moved into swimming area in the past few days and yesterday a 7 year old swimmer had a dangerous encounter with the turtle. Thankfully, the little girl is fine, albeit shaken up.
Sadly, due to interaction with humans, this turtle, who has probably lived his entire life at Lake Waubeeka, had to be relocated away from his lifelong home. While his new home sounds wonderful, I personally find this to be a very sad, upsetting and preventable situation. Several others have expressed similar opinions and emotions to me today.
Too often, when people interact with wildlife, it is the animal that pays the price. I implore all residents to admire and respect wildlife from a distance. Please do NOT feed any animals in and around our lake, including turtles, fish, deer, raccoons, fox, bear, etc.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Lois Yager
LWA Corresponding Secretary
