Community Corner
Endangered MA Turtles Revived In New EcoTarium, MassWildlife Program
The new Worcester natural history museum program is aiming to give Northern Red-bellied Cooter hatchlings a shot at returning.
WORCESTER, MA — A new collaboration between the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the EcoTarium Museum in Worcester is aiming to give local endangered turtles a chance at making a comeback.
The museum recently welcomed a group of Northern red-bellied cooter hatchlings, which will grow in a museum display over the next nine months. The turtles will then be released into the wild as part of a larger MassWildlife program dating to the 1980s to restore Northern red-bellied cooters.
EcoTarium CEO Noreen Johnson Smith said the museum's new turtle "head-starting" initiative is part of a wider mission of conservation dating to the museum's founding in 1825.
MassWildlife has released about 4,800 hatchlings of the species since 1984. The head-starting program helps the endangered turtles regain a foothold in Massachusetts, but also helps educate the public about their role in the ecosystem and about turtle conservation.
The Northern red-bellied cooter turtle population in Massachusetts is unique because the next closest population is located a few hundred miles away in New Jersey. The turtles, which can live up to 50 years, are endangered at both the state and federal level.
