Seventeen young turtles that had been raised from eggs retrieved from the smashed bodies of mothers killed on roads were released back into the wild by a class of kindergartners.
A kindergarten student releases a turtle back into the wild at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, N.J., Wednesday, June 8, 2022. A class of kindergarten students released 17 turtles that were raised from the eggs of female turtles that were struck and killed by cars. The program run by the Wetlands Institute, Stockton University and Stone Harbor schools has returned thousands of turtles into the wild over the past 25 years.
“It's a great community connection,” said Lisa Ferguson, director of research and conservation at the Wetlands Institute, which runs the program along with Stockton University and Stone Harbor schools. “It showcases how conservation works, and that everyone has a part to play, from adults down to kindergarten students.”
“We lose 550 adult females each year to road kills,” Ferguson said of her area in the southern New Jersey marshlands near the ocean. Aside from caring for injured live turtles, the Wetlands Institute harvests eggs from females killed on the road and incubates them at 30 degrees Celsius, a temperature that will ensure they develop as females .