A protected B.C. pond turtle is wet in the wild once again after a healing stint at Wild ARC (Animal Rehabilitation Centre).
The BC SPCA site in Metchosin took care of the turtle after she showed up with a fishing hook stuck in her maxilla (jaw), with specialists sharing her X-rays online with the world.
Not only did she make a full recovery, Wild ARC reported this month, but she returned home to the wild with a second chance at life.
The western painted turtle is the only protected pond turtle in B.C., and not uncommon to spot sunbathing on floating logs or rocks near ponds. They have a beautiful bright red pattern on the underside of their shell, giving them their colourful name. Painted turtles eat a wide variety of aquatic plants and animals, including insects and larvae, frogs, tadpoles, worms and snails.
The turtles can live 30 years, growing in size to match their age – potentially the size of dinner plates. Unlike some other shelled animals, turtles can’t leave their shell as the ribs form part of the shell and grows with them from birth.
