On Friday, September 21st, our turtle researchers ventured out into the Rouge Park to do our routine turtle tracking.  Upon tracking Bobbers, we saw him on a shallow mudflat.  Getting closer, we realized that he was not responding to our presence. Bobbers had passed away.

Bobbers was an older turtle, though the necropsy (an autopsy for animals) also showed that he had a lot of water in his lungs, which suggests drowning could have been the cause of death.  Turtles are aquatic animals, but they do still need to breathe air, and so drowning is possible.  We will likely never know what it was that caused his death.

This tragic experience has taught us a lot about turtles.  It has also given us that much more of a drive to conserve these turtles and do what we can to help not only the individuals, but entire populations.  In this particular population of Blanding's turtles, Lucky is the only remaining male.  Therefore losing Bobbers is not only an emotional loss to us, but it is also the loss of 50% of this population's male individuals, a statistic that is likely detrimental to population sustainability.  We are striving to do as much as we can to help these turtles, which includes switching our focus from radio-tracking to habitat restoration and management.

In memory of our very first Blanding's turtle, the Adopt-A-Pond turtle mascot has been named Bobbers.

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