Nestled in rural New Jersey’s rolling hills, a top secret animal sanctuary is keeping its occupants safe. The oasis is not for the official state animal (the horse) or even birds rescued from the Jersey shore. This hidden refuge belongs to turtles and tortoises.
“The goal with most of these is to get them back into the wild,” Maurice Rodrigues told Popular Science during a recent visit to the sanctuary.
A conservation biologist and realtor by training, Rodrigues co-founded the Turtle Conservancy in 2005 with entrepreneur and filmmaker Eric Goode. This eastern outpost of the Turtle Conservancy takes in abandoned, homeless, and illegally trafficked reptiles confiscated at airports in the New York City metro area. According to law enforcement officers working with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, inspectors seize about 600 to 1,000 native turtles a year at John F. Kennedy International Airport alone. The non-profit has a separate sanctuary in Ojai, California that hosts turtles rescued from places closer to the West Coast.
At both facilities, the reptiles are fed, sheltered, and cared for by dedicated volunteers until they recover enough for release. In New Jersey, Rodrigues has built several enclosures filled with shrubs and other plants for the turtles to live in and forage. One raised bed is fed by a natural stream, giving the semi-aquatic reptiles access to freshwater amidst all of that greenery. The tropical species soak up the sun all summer before moving inside when the temperatures begin to drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, while the local turtles hibernate naturally outside.
Meet the ‘bale’
In the wild, a group of turtles is known as a bale or a nest. The turtles currently in this New Jersey bale include critically endangered Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtles (Chitra vandijki), Indian spotted turtles (Geoclemys hamiltoni), and alien-esque Mata Mata turtles (Chelus fimbriata) from the Amazon. The habitat is not only home to reptiles from far off places–threatened species from the Midwest and Northeast also have a home here. In August, several spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) hatchlings about the size of a quarter were born on site. Rodrigues tries to keep these tiny turtles safe from the natural predators in the area, including vultures and some unlikely animals.
“Even frogs and toads will eat a baby turtle, so they’re very vulnerable,” says Rodrigues. “That’s why these come indoors. I usually get them to a decent size before I put them back outside, and then they’ll live their life outside until we’re ready to release them.”
And they have Ruby, the undisputed star of the sanctuary and queen of the bale. The expressive 35-pound reptile with a distinctive nose is a Burmese roofed turtle (Batagur trivittata), who represents some hope for a struggling species. Her previous owner was a veterinarian and taxonomist who passed away, leaving her in Rodrigues’ care.
“She’s one of the rarest animals on the planet, so it’s bizarre that she ended up here at my house,” Rodrigues says with a laugh. “I normally don’t name the turtles, but she’s from Myanmar, and their number one gemstone is the ruby, so that’s her name.”
In the early 2000s, Burmese roofed turtles almost went extinct. Five females and three males were found and placed together to form the first captive assurance colonies for the species. Assurance colonies keep animals at risk of extinction in zoos, aquariums, or semi-wild conditions like at the turtle sanctuary so that they can hopefully breed and keep the species going.
With assurance colonies, preserving DNA and trying to get the species able to breed and return to the wild is the ultimate goal when it’s possible.
“It’s not always safe,” says Rodrigues. “There are species where we’ve been breeding them in captivity, but we can’t release them yet, since there’s no safe place for them, because their habitats are still being destroyed, or there’s too much poaching, or the government the laws are not in place to protect them.”
All of today’s Burmese roofed turtles originate from those five females. Ruby has the potential of becoming the sixth founder female, if the conservancy volunteers can get her to breed and produce viable offspring. They are currently trying to find a male, preferably two since these turtles need males to fight over the females in order to breed. That offspring could end up back in Myanmar to contribute to the captive breeding program in their homeland.
Despite her already impressive size, Ruby should be even larger. She currently weighs about 35 pounds, but should be about 80.
“Because she was kept in captivity for so long and not in the greatest conditions, she’s a little stunted in growth,” says Rodrigues. “She’s primarily a vegetarian, but she is an omnivore. She’ll incidentally catch things while she’s eating vegetation, like snails, fish, all kinds of things.”
Fortunately, under the Turtle Conservancy’s care, she is gaining weight and growing.
“We’re getting her ready to go meet some males that we’re going to bring,” says Rodrigues.
Building towards the future
For the army of volunteers taking care of these somewhat unconventional pets, it’s equal parts scientific commitment and calling. Rodrigues, who also has a dog, even finds caring for the shelled reptiles a bit easier than his canine—but much more expensive. Rodrigues spends hundreds of dollars per month on live fish to feed the animals.
“Luckily, I have solar. But in the winter, the electric bill could be $500 a month just in electricity,” he says. “Then you have the labor, which I do myself, and I have volunteers to help me.”
Some of those volunteers are helping raise funds through the arts and other fundraisers to keep those lights on and help the Turtle Conservancy raise funds to build a greenhouse. This new structure will give the species from more tropical locales that the Garden State’s climate can’t mimic more room to roam and in an environment more similar to their native habitats. Still, even with the dedicated volunteers and motivation, caring for animals like these is not for the faint of heart.
“I do not recommend them for people that don’t have the means to do it,” Rodrigues cautions. “If you don’t have the means, the animals will suffer. They’ll be kept just inhumanely. Personally, I don’t like keeping them indoors here, which is why I’m struggling and working hard to get this greenhouse built.”
It’s not easy being green
Along with amphibians, turtles are among the most threatened groups of vertebrates due to the continued pressures of habitat loss and climate change. Those continued threats help fuel the team taking care of Ruby and her compatriots, preserving their precious DNA and keeping species going.
“I’m fascinated by turtles. I think they’re beautiful. I also just feel that they’re so vulnerable,” says Rodrigues. “The first group of animals to go extinct will be turtles. That really bothers me, and I want to be part of the team that keeps that from happening.”
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