A turtle that was found walking in the middle of a back road near Burnaby Lake last week has been identified as an endangered species that is native to Ontario.
A Burnaby resident found the turtle and first took it to the Wildlife Rescue Association (WRA).
“It was just sitting in the middle of the road,” said Linda Bakker from the WRA. “A member of the public came across it and was concerned.”
In order to get a more precise identification, the turtle was taken to the Dewdney Animal Hospital in Maple Ridge.
“It wasn’t until it got here that we saw this orange patching on the skin and realized that what we were dealing with was actually an endangered wood turtle,” said Dr. Adrian Walton.
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He suspects someone took the turtle from the wild in Ontario and kept it as a pet, but didn’t know what they were doing.
“These guys normally will have a very smooth shell,” said Walton. “But if they are given too much protein they will develop these things called ‘pyramiding,’ where some of the shell becomes almost like a pyramid.”
Bakker said if people can’t take care of their pets they think they can drop them off at a location like Burnaby Lake and they will thrive. But that’s often not the case.
“If you can’t take care of an animal, you shouldn’t have it,” said Walton.
The reptile is now being sent to an Ontario wildlife sanctuary.