Every August across Ontario, hundreds of thousands of baby turtles hatch and explore their wetland homes for the first time.

It is a special thing to meet a turtle in Ontario. All eight of the species found in Ontario are considered at risk or endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and protected under the federal Species at Risk Act.

These remarkable animals have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, hundreds of millions of years ago.

“There are so many positive things turtles do and no real negatives,” says Dr. Sue Carstairs, executive and medical director at the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre in Peterborough.

“The wetland homes that turtles live in are supposed to be the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. That means lots of different species live in an interwoven web together. Turtles make up a big piece of that. Like a big Jenga game, if you take that piece away it can all fall apart.”

“People often don’t know that these wetlands that turtles live in are the sources of our drinking water,” she adds. “The wetlands act like the filters or kidneys of the water system, and keeping the wetlands healthy has a huge benefit to us. Turtles are scavengers in those wetlands. They are a really good clean-up crew.”

The scales seem to be increasingly tipped against turtles in Ontario. The wetland habitats that turtles depend on are often fragmented by roads or given insufficient protections, and drained and filled to make way for subdivisions and other developments.

Human influence has also increased populations of predators that eat turtle nests, including racoons, skunks, crows, and gulls.

“Turtles have a pretty unique life,” Dr. Carstairs explains. “Turtles have to live a very long time to even have a chance of replacing themselves by nesting. Tipping the balance in any way will really disrupt the health of a population. Any one turtle that we can save has a big positive impact on the population.”

A female snapping turtle, for example, may not start nesting until nearly 20 years of age. Each turtle may nest for decades before they have successfully replaced themselves in the population.

In the spring, many adult turtles must cross roadways to breed and nest. Numerous are injured by travelling vehicles when doing so. Rescuing just one of those injured turtles may be the equivalent of saving decades of nests.

“There are hundreds of projects going on across the province that will hopefully reduce road mortality,” shares Dr. Carstairs. “We are never going to fix this problem completely, but we can help a lot with wildlife underpasses, overpasses, and measures like that.”

The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre is also tipping those scales back into balance through rescue and rehabilitation efforts, as well as education and research programs.

Amazingly, every year the centre not only rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of adult turtles, but also rescues the fertilized eggs of injured mature females. They raise the hatchlings through the winter and release them in the spring, giving them a head-start on life in the wild.

The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre has admitted over 1,000 injured turtles this year, and they are in the process of hatching approximately 5,000 eggs.

Next time you see a turtle crossing the road, or encounter an injured turtle, keep in mind that by helping these turtles you may be helping dozens of future baby turtles.

If you find an injured turtle, call the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre hotline at 705-741-5000.

Here’s a video from the Toronto Zoo showing how you can help a snapping turtle cross the road safely. You can also read this story from Ontario Nature on helping turtles cross the road.

VIDEO: How to help a snapping turtle cross the road

“Property owners can also have a positive role to play in supporting local turtle populations,” Dr. Carstairs says.

If a turtle nest is on your private property, you are legally allowed to take steps to properly protect it from predators without interfering with the nest itself. It is not legal to disturb or interfere with a nest in any way.

You can learn how you can properly protect turtle nests in this guide from the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre.

“If you happen to be lucky enough to be at the nest when the babies are hatching, you should never take them outside of that area,” explains Dr. Carstairs. “It is fair game to gently move hatchlings to the edge of the nearest wetland or water body — to tip the balance a bit by helping them just that little bit — but the hatchlings need to stay close to where their nest is.”

“People mean well and sometimes people see the small, frail hatchlings and bring them in to us at the centre,” she adds. “We cannot keep them. There is nothing wrong with them. We need to respect their wildness.”

“Never disturb a nest,” Dr. Carstairs points out. “Some people notice a nest that hasn’t hatched yet, and they dig it up. Those nests may be over-wintering. Do not disturb a nest.”

Report turtle sightings to the Natural Heritage Information Centre at ontario.ca/page/report-rare-species-animals-and-plants or through iNaturalist, a Canada-wide citizen science program (for more information and to download the iNaturalist app, visit inaturalist.ca.

This leads to a better understanding of these animals and their distribution throughout our province; these sites also feature great resources for identifying the different turtle species.

You can also volunteer to be a ‘turtle taxi’ for the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. This means occasionally picking up injured turtles to bring to the centre and releasing rehabilitated turtles back into the environment. For more information, visit ontarioturtle.ca.

If you want to learn more about Ontario turtles, the Toronto Zoo has a great collection of resources at torontozoo.com/adoptapond/resources.

Be a hero for the half-shell and for the future of our shared environment. Take steps to ensure that turtles — around since the dinosaurs — can survive into the future.

An electrical fire at Greg’s No Frills at 230 George Street North early Wednesday morning (August 18) has temporarily closed the grocery store.

Peterborough Fire Services responded to an automatic alarm at the building at around 4:49 a.m. on Wednesday. Light smoke was visible in the air when they arrived.

Fire crews forced their way into the building where they determined the sprinkler system had been activated and had almost put out a fire in the rear of the building.

No injuries were reported, and there is no word on damages.

Store staff remained at the front of the store all day Wednesday to advise customers why the store was closed.

Am employee told kawarthaNOW the store would remain closed “at least until Thursday” (August 19).

The ‘All Hands on Deck’ food drive for Kawartha Food Share, scheduled to take place at the store from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, will continue at the food drive’s other two locations (Foodland on Hunter Street and Sherbrooke Foodland).

All Trent University students, faculty, staff, and visitors on the university’s Peterborough and Durham campuses will need to provide proof they are fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, September 7th.

Trent University president Leo Groarke announced the vaccination policy on Wednesday (August 18), five days after Fleming College made a similar announcement and one day after Ontario’s chief medical of health announced all universities would be required to have a vaccination policy.

Exemptions to providing proof of full vaccination will be allowed on medical or other protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code. Anyone who does not have two vaccinations will have to complete COVID-19 testing before coming on campus.

The names of all students who submit proof of their two vaccinations by September 7 will be entered into a draw that will provide the winner with free tuition for the fall semester.

Trent University completed a vaccination survey that shows 85 per cent of 7,140 students and 94 per cent of 1,024 employees are already fully vaccinated.

Other health and safety measures at Trent University include the mandatory use of face masks in indoor settings, health screening, enhanced ventilation and air filtration, robust cleaning and sanitization, on-campus testing, and wastewater surveillance.

Groake says the university is also partnering with Peterborough Public Health to host on-campus pop-up vaccine clinics for staff, faculty, and students.

More details on the university’s vaccination policy will be posted in the coming days and weeks at www.trentu.ca/coronavirus/.

Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) has announced COVID-19 testing and medical assessment services will be consolidated at the hospital’s COVID-19 assessment centre at 1 Hospital Drive as of Monday (August 23).

The final day of COVID-19 testing at Northcrest Arena, where testing has been available since October 2020, will be on Thursday (August 19).

Peterborough Paramedics will support testing at the hospital site, where testing will continue to be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.

The existing process to book an appointment for a test will not change.

Those who have mild symptoms of COVID-19, who have been advised by Peterborough Public Health or a medical professional to get tested, or who are required to be tested for work or other reasons, should use the online booking form.

Those with have moderate symptoms of COVID-19 and need a medical assessment should call PRHC’s COVID-19 assessment centre at 705-876-5086. Anyone with severe symptoms should call 911 or visit PRHC’s Emergency Department.

People with no sysmptoms can get a COVID-19 test, including for international travel, at Shoppers Drug Mart at 741 Lansdowne Street West.

COVID-19 testing has been offered inside the Northcrest Arena since October 2020.

Peterborough police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing 63-year-old man.

Lorne Leahy was last accounted for on July 17, and was reported missing by a roommate last Wednesday (August 11).

Police believe he is in the Peterborough area and are concerned for his well-being.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Peterborough Police Service at 705-876-1122 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.stopcrimehere.ca.

On Sunday, September 19th, runners will depart form the DePave garden on Water Street in Peterborough for the second bi-annual Monarch Ultra Relay Run.

The previous Monarch Ultra relay run in 2019 saw 46 runners follow the monarch butterfly’s migratory route from Peterborough, Canada, to Macheros, Mexico. The run raises awareness about the plight of the monarch butterfly.

Starting the same day as the run two years ago, this year’s Monarch Ultra will remain north of the border due to the pandemic and travel 1,800 kilometres across southern Ontario.

Carlotta James, Monarch Ultra co-founder and project director, notes that although the run is a bit different this year, it still has the same mission as the 2019 run.

“Our mission and message are the same, but the route and the communities we’re running through are completely different,” explains James. “We’re still running for monarch butterflies. We’re running to raise awareness and as a call to action to protect the environment.”

This year’s run will take runners from Peterborough southwest through Toronto, Burlington, Hamilton, Saint Catherines, and Niagara Falls before heading towards London, Cambridge, and Kitchener, and looping back to Barrie. The 1,800-kilometre run will take runners through Ontario’s cities, towns, greenways and lakeshores along the Trans Canada Trail and the Waterfront Trail. On Saturday, October 9th, the 21-day run will come to an end in Barrie.

PDF: 2021 Monarch Ultra schedule
2021 Monarch Ultra schedule

“I’m excited to see the Trans Canada Trail and the Waterfront Trail,” James says. “They’re accessible. They’re bike-friendly. They’re for walking, running, and exploring. Those trails have been welcoming of a running project like the Monarch Ultra.”

The route change has caused some other changes to the relay run this year as well. While runners collectively travelled 100 kilometres a day in 2019, they will run 80 kilometres a day this year. James explains they had to consider the fall weather in Ontario, noting that their runners need to be finished for the day before sunset.

Each morning, two ultra runners will begin a 50-kilometre run at 8 a.m. and finish around 1 or 2 p.m., depending on their pace. Another two runners will pick up exactly where the first two left off and run 30 kilometres,

In addition to raising awareness of the declining populations of the monarch butterfly, an important pollinator, this year’s run is raising funds for Camp Kawartha, a local non-profit organization that helps to educate future environmental stewards.

James says they decided to link up with Camp Kawartha because they’re a “fantastic” non-profit teaching today’s youth the importance of protecting nature.

“They are doing such good work to empower the next generation of earth stewards through their nature programming,” James points out. “We thought they would be an awesome partner for the Monarch Ultra. Because we’re not running to Mexico, we’re staying in our province and that’s another reason that made us decide to support a local organization rather than an international one.”

VIDEO: Monarch Ultra 2021 by Rodney Fuentes

You can donate to Camp Kawartha’s environmental stewardship programs for youth through the Monarch Ultra Run through their Race Roster webpage. Camp Kawartha will issue charitable tax receipts for all monetary donations of $25 or more.

So far, the Monarch Ultra has raised $4,100 for Camp Kawartha.

This year, the Monarch Ultra has also launched a virtual run for those who would like to support their cause but are not long-distance runners. Participants raise funds from friends and family and then walk, hike, or bike 10 kilometres. The 115 participants in the virtual run have so far raised $2,500 for Camp Kawartha.

James says that supporting a local charity is one of the many silver linings to holding the run in Ontario for a year.

“We get to galvanize the province of Ontario and get many communities excited, connected, and united on this front,” James notes. “We are getting to know our own backyard, and that’s pretty neat.”

While James will miss the Mexican food and culture this year, she wants to focus on the positives of running across Ontario and looks forward to running to Mexico again in 2023 — COVID permitting.

“Mexican people are very welcoming and hospitable and fun,” says James. “When they heard about the Monarch Ultra, there was a festival almost every single day of our two-week stay.”

“Canadians are full of joy as well, so we’re going to have some fun time in our own province too,” she adds. “We’re not going to think about the things we’re going to miss. Instead, we’re going to think about the things we’re going to inspire and create.”

One thing James hopes will not change for this year’s run is how it inspires and educates people along the way. She says that in every community they ran through during the 2019 run, they took the opportunity to talk to people about the decline of pollinators including monarch butterflies and the environmental destruction caused by human beings to their habitat.

“For us, education is really big, and it’s also an eye-opener,” says James. “We met so many people who didn’t know that monarchs even migrate, or that they’re in decline, or that they need milkweed to survive.”

“Once people get inspired, they’ll educate their own families and communities,” she adds. “So it’s a ripple effect.”

A documentary about the Monarch Ultra Relay Run is currently in production. James believes it will be another great educational tool that will be shown to thousands of schools, people, and communities.

The Monarch Ultra team is also heading up a ‘Mini Monarch Ultra Run,’ where kids can run during their breaks and lunches to raise money and awareness for the cause.

“Kids will tally up their kilometres, and then there is a national total,” explains James. “We’re hoping to have tens of thousands of kilometres run by youth and students across schools in Canada.”

There will also be a call to action attached to the run that will encourage schools and children to build pollinator gardens or to expand existing ones.

Creating a call to action is what inspired James in the first place to co-found the inaugural Monarch Ultra Run, following the monarch’s migration route from Canada to Mexico.

“We can change our lawns into pollinator habitats,” James explains. “We can reduce the use of pesticides. We can healthily raise monarchs, or at least provide food for monarch butterflies in our gardens.”

This year’s run will have pandemic protocols in place to make sure everyone stays safe. Only two runners are en route at a time, meaning there is plenty of space for physical distancing. In addition, any water, food, or gel for runners will be sanitized at rest points. People not running who cannot physically distance themselves will be required to wear a mask.

James hopes to garner support and encouragement for Monarch Ultra runners from communities along their route. Her dream, she says, is to have people cheering on the runners every hour of the relay run.

To keep up with the run and find out where you could stop by and show your support, follow the Monarch Ultra on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

“We will do lots of social media stories,” James says. “Two years ago, we had about 40,000 people following us on Facebook.”

The relay run still has 20 vacant spots for ultra and long-distance runners to fill. James is committed to filling those spots if they remain vacant, but hopes to have them filled by the start of the run on September 19.

“Come on, people,” she urges. “We need you to sign up. We need your legs. We need your voice.”

To register as a runner for the relay run, visit raceroster.com/events/2021/40048/monarch-ultra-relay-run. A complete map of the route is also available at https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1422512.

Visit the Monarch Ultra website at themonarchultra.com for more information about the run and its mission.