A resident of McDougall, Ont., just north of Parry Sound, has been fined $48,000 for damaging the habitat of a Blanding’s turtle in the Shebeshekong Wetland Conservation Reserve, a section of Crown land that extends to the shoreline of Georgian Bay.
On October 25, Timothy Hunt pleaded guilty to damaging the threatened species’ habitat while performing road work without a permit between May 2016 and June 2017.
The case was heard in the Ontario Court of Justice in Parry Sound by Justice of the Peace Madeleine Paul. Paul ruled that Hunt would pay the $48,000 fine to the Georgian Bay Biosphere, a non-profit organization that works to protect and recover threatened and endangered species in the Georgian Bay area.
The Blanding’s turtle has been listed as threatened since Ontario’s Endangered Species Act took effect in 2008. Threatened species come one step before endangered. According to the Act, a species is considered threatened if it’s likely to become endangered if steps are not taken to address factors threatening to lead to its extinction.
Blanding’s turtles are medium-sized turtles with yellow necks and a domed shell that resembles an army helmet. They make their homes in shallow water, usually large wetlands or lakes with lots of water plants. From October through April, the turtles will hibernate in the mud at the bottom of permanent bodies of water. But the species has been known to travel between bodies of water in search of a mate.
The Blanding’s turtle can live for as long as 80 years but is slow to breed, not reaching maturity until its twenties. This has proven detrimental to the species’ propagation as many die before they have the chance to reproduce; killed by predators, habitat loss, or road collisions.
The federal government estimates that there are between 25,000 to 45,000 adult Blanding’s turtles left in Ontario with 300 to 400 of them killed annually on the roads. In a 2017 assessment, the provincial government found that the species’ population had been reduced by 60 per cent in the southern half of Ontario due to the loss of wetlands.
As of 2020, the Ontario government has committed to protecting and recovering the Blanding’s turtle species through a series of actions, including:
- increasing public awareness of the species
- financially supporting conservation, agency, municipal, industry, and Indigenous partners to undertake activities to protect and recover Blanding’s Turtles
- monitoring populations of Blanding’s turtles and mitigating threats to their habitats
- reviewing the government’s protection and recovery progress within the next ten years
If you witness any activities impacting species at risk or their protected habitats, you can report it to the provincial government by calling 1-866-MOE-TIPS (663-8477) or through its online reporting tool. Any endangered species sightings can be reported to the Natural Heritage Information Centre or at iNaturalist.ca.
Related Story Wild Profile: Meet the Blanding’s turtle
Related Story How to identify Ontario’s 8 species of turtles