Tenth Turtle Release Event is August 28, 2025
Tenth Annual Turtle Release Event to take place at Morrison Dam Conservation Area, east of Ex-eter, on Thursday, August 28, 2025 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Huron Stewardship Council co-hosts event with Ausable Bayfield Conservation to educate public about freshwater turtles and habitat they need to survive
Huron Stewardship Council (HSC) and Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) join other community partners to hold the Tenth Annual Turtle Hatchling Release Event. It is on Thursday, August 28, 2025 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event takes place east of Exeter at Morrison Dam Conservation Area, 71108 Morrison Line. To reserve a spot, visit Eventbrite.
Admission is free and people are welcome to drop in at any time during the event. Organizers encourage visitors to donate. Net proceeds support turtle conservation in Ontario. The event includes live reptiles on display; family-friendly activities; educational displays and more. There is merchandise for sale as well.
The turtle release event has taken place since 2016 (it was held as a virtual event in 2020 and 2021). Many hundreds of people have attended the event over the past ten years.
“It’s amazing how many people have learned about turtles at this event,” said Sheldon Paul, HSC Fieldwork Coordinator. He said the event is a great way to educate the young and the young at heart about Ontario’s eight freshwater turtle species, which are all at risk.
In advance of the event, trained personnel, with required permits, collect the turtle eggs at the site of the release and then incubate them. The eggs are not likely to hatch successfully if left on their own.
Staff releasing the hatchlings, back into the wild in the area they were found, are trained and authorized, with required permits, to release them. People attending the turtle release will not be able to hold the turtles. This is to protect the animals and reduce their stress. Those attending can see the turtles as they are released and learn about them. (Organizers remind the public to never release species, especially non-native species, into the wild).
Ontario’s native freshwater turtles face many threats including habitat loss and road mortality (death by cars and other vehicles). Hundreds of turtles in Ontario are hit by cars each year. These could be gravid (pregnant) females looking for a place to lay eggs, or turtles looking for new habitat and mates. People can help turtles by creating and enhancing habitat on their properties, helping turtles cross the road in the direction they are heading (when it is safe to do so), and working with their local municipalities and communities to erect turtle crossing signs and build safe passages.
People can also arrange for transport of injured turtles to the turtle hospital.
Turtles are important links in food webs and provide essential ecological services, said Hope Brock, Healthy Watersheds Specialist at ABCA. Snapping turtles, for example, help to control aquatic vegetation and clean creeks and wetlands by eating algae and dead and decaying fish and other organisms. They also cycle nutrients and spread seeds which benefit other organisms.
People can protect turtles, she said, by watching for turtles on roads when driving, helping them safely cross roads in the way they are headed, protecting nests from predators, and reporting turtle sightings to community monitoring projects. Enhancing turtle habitat is also vital. “Preserving and creating habitat for turtles and other species is one of the most important things we can do to sustain our turtle species,” she said. “There has been a huge increase in the interest in turtles and protecting turtles in our watershed, so I also want to thank people for these efforts,” she said. “Thank you for your continued curiosity, for attending this event, and for your desire to help these at-risk animals.”
To learn more visit the Huron Stewardship Council website, and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation turtles web page, or email HSC (huronstewardship@gmail.com).
(Photos by Jory Mullen)