February Lecture: Toronto Zoo – Blanding’s Turtle Restoration Program

Join us on February 2nd, 2025 at 2:30 pm for our February lecture: Toronto Zoo – Blanding’s Turtle Restoration Program.

The Toronto Zoo will provide an overview of their Blanding’s Headstarting Program.

Speaker: Rachelle Fortier, Species Recovery Branch Coordinator, Toronto Zoo

The Blanding’s turtle, a long-lived species with a life span of up to 80 years, is listed as a threatened species both provincially and nationally due to threats such as predation and habitat loss. Blanding’s turtles have inhabited the Rouge Valley for thousands of years; however, prior to the initiation of the Toronto Zoo’s headstarting program, Blanding’s turtles were facing almost imminent local extinction in this area, with as few as six individuals remaining. After over a decade of monitoring turtles what is now the Rouge National Urban Park (RNUP), the Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond Wetland Conservation Program began to supplement the Park’s declining Blanding’s turtle population with headstarted juveniles as part of a comprehensive approach to species recovery, which also included habitat creation, academic research, stewardship initiatives, outreach and education efforts to save this species from local extinction.

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Meeting ID: 879 9967 3897

Passcode: 815155

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Meeting ID: 879 9967 3897

Passcode: 815155

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