>>The Wildlife Center of Virginia is one of the world's leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife and conservation medicine.

Each year the center provides state of the art, veterinary and rehabilitative care for nearly 3,000 wild animals with one goal in mind, returning the animal to its natural habitat.

(dramatic music) >>Just like the dinosaurs from the Mesozoic period, today's reptile species are facing enormous threats because of changes to their environment, changes to the climate, and changes to their habitat.

Turtles, just like their ancient ancestors are hard wired, they're creatures of instinct.

Just because the habitat changes doesn't mean the turtle has the ability to change its natural behaviors.

And unfortunately, unlike the dinosaurs of the past that fell victim to natural causes, today's environmental change is being caused by humans.

Here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia in our hospital we get a wide variety of turtle species and they come in for a lot of different reasons.

But the most common injury is one that has its root in turtle behavior and turtle instinct.

Turtles come out of the water, if they're an aquatic species, to lay eggs far away from the water above the flood line, so that their nests will be protected and dry.

Rising water can literally drown a nest.

For terrestrial species, they'll often travel great distances to find a mate.

And then the females will go on an instinctive route to the area where she believes the nesting needs to take place.

It's driven by instinct, it's not a matter of choice.

And turtles don't change simply because the habitat changes.

If they're going north and a new road goes in, they're going to cross that road and continue north.

Unfortunately, when they're crossing that road, not all drivers see them.

And not all drivers will accommodate their presence in the road.

Being hit by a car is the most common injury that brings turtles to the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

(phone ringing) >>Wildlife Center of Virginia, this is Caroline, how can I help you?

>>Where are you located?

>>Are you able to bring the turtle to us?

Our vets can determine if the shell can be repaired.

>>Do you have a shoe box, tote, or bucket?

>>Great, gently pick up the turtle and at the most stable looking area of the shell.

Place it in the bucket, make a note of the closest cross street or mailbox number so that if this turtle is released, it can go back to its home.

>>Great, thanks, see you soon, bye.

(gentle music) >>So the number one reason why turtles come to our center is because they get hit by car during two times of the year, mainly.

Early spring when they're coming back from hibernation.

And then late fall when they're going to hibernate.

So they start moving a lot and they are crossing the roads.

On that moment, most of them get hit by car, and their shells get injured.

And most of them have a crack shell or a fracture shell.

And this is a case of this little guy.

You can see how this guy has multiple fractures on the top shell.

In this particular case, we can see that this fracture is old because he's not bleeding.

But most of the times we see that is acute, the problem, meaning that it's acute, it just happened.

And we can see a really fresh injury with a lot of bleeding on there.

Now what's the problem with shell fractures?

The problem is that the show is made of bone, and also a little bit like a skin, so he has keratin like your nails or your hair.

So we need to make sure that we protect two things.

One is the bone.

And then the other part is the keratin.

This process, like any other fracture or any other bone fracture, is highly painful.

So the first thing that we do in the Center is make sure that we do a complete physical exam, that this turtle stable enough, we give pain medications, because it's highly painful.

And we clean those wounds or those fracture sites.

And we give one or two days to these turtles to recover a little bit, to have less pain, and be more stable.

Once they are completely stable, then we can repair this fracture itself.

There's multiple ways people has find out to repair shell fractures.

You can drill a screw on it and then put wire and make some tension to bring all these fragments together to the shell.

So they are close to close each line of the fracture and then that bone can heal.

That's one way to do it.

We don't like it that much here at the Center, because every time you're drilling a hole you're damaging a little bit the bone.

But it's really good because really good at stability.

Other ways is just to putting sometimes metal bars that can be taped, that can be glued with superglue, or that you can put epoxy on them, and then again, bring these fracture fragments together.

And those bars will stabilize the fracture.

And last thing that is really cheap and also really easy to put is zip ties.

The plastic zip ties that you use for cables in your house, we use them here gluing them into the shell fragments, and then zip tying those fragments to bring them again together.

Now that's just the initial part of the treatments, turtles have really low metabolism.

So because of that the fracture will take really long time to heal.

So we need to make sure that we do at least three things every day.

One is giving pain medications, because is really painful.

Second, keeping those fracture sites really clean.

And third, making sure that the stability of those fragments is adequate.

And then this will take between six to eight weeks to heal.

Sometimes there's some turtles like in this case, that these fragments unfortunately lost their blood supply.

So the bone died.

And you can see that this bone is really brown, is really dark.

So unfortunately, when we have these brownish areas we know that these bone is dead.

I probably will not be able to put this back together.

Now the question is, is this turtle releasable, is not releasable.

What we're going to do with a turtle that has multiple fragments that we cannot put together, the shell helps them protect the internal organs.

So if I release this turtle, maybe it will have a decent bandage in the wild.

So we have to put in the balance, how much they can lose, how much they cannot lose, to decide if that animal is a candidate to be released back into the wild or not.

(tender music) So oral abscess or ear infections is I will say almost a second cause of admission at the Wildlife Central Virginia for box turtles mainly, or for terrestrial turtles.

We get a few aquatic turtles.

Now there's multiple reasons why this ear infection can happen.

Most of times is related in a combination of a nutritional status with an infection, plus something that is making that turtle to be immune compromised, or their organism to not be strong enough to fight different germs in the wild.

So what happens in most of these turtles that we see a huge ball in their ears, is almost as though there is like a pea and there's a growing to the size of a cherry.

And sometimes even it can get to the size of almost a plum, or a lime.

So it can get really, really big when we're considering a really small turtle with a small head and then you have this huge mass in their ear canal.

We have done some research for multiple years in Virginia, and through the country.

And we have find a high correlation between oral abcess or ear infections in turtles and the use of pesticides in agriculture.

So what we have find is that turtles that live really close to agriculture fields are more susceptible, or they have a highest correlation with ear infections.

And that also matches a little with what can happen in some humans.

So there's been cases related where children in schools that were treated for pests and different insects, they started getting some ear infections, and they find these correlations.

So we find out this in turtles.

What does this pesticides cause in the turtles?

One, it causes the defense system or immune system to be weaker.

But the second thing is that they cannot absorb really well nutrients, especially vitamin A.

So when vitamin A is really low, what happens is there's an excessive production of different cells, those cells are still accumulating in their ear canal.

And because these turtles are in aquatic territories or in the mud or they bury themselves, then this block of the ear canal plus some bacteria and germs getting into it causes the severe infection, I mean, these abscesses.

How do we treat it here at the Wildlife Center?

So again, as any other turtle, we make sure that we do a complete physical exam, that that's not the only injury, that we know exactly what is the whole picture of that animal.

The second thing is that is really painful.

If you compare an ear infection, a human that's severely painful.

So we need to make sure that that animal doesn't have pain and we give painkillers to those animals.

And once our animal is stable, then we'll take it to surgery.

And we do a small incision.

And we do something called surgical debridement for cleaning that ear canal.

So we remove all that abscess.

Now the abscess in turtles compared to mammals or humans, is not fluid, is not pussy.

It's almost like cheese.

So it's really, really strong.

So sometimes that gives us some complications to clean it.

But also sometimes is just as easy as taking it a little bit with forceps and pulling it out.

Once we do that, for several weeks we keep cleaning that ear canal.

And we gave some time some antibiotics to these turtles, and most of them recover without any further complications.

(phone ringing) >>Wildlife Center of Virginia, this is Caroline, how can I help you?

>>Yeah, we certainly do want to examine that animal to see if we can remove the hook.

Are you able to safely contain the animal?

>>Wonderful, let's make sure that containers nice and secure and make a note of the exact location where you found the turtle.

We'll need that information for the patient records.

>>Thank you, see you shortly, bye bye.

(gentle music) >>So there's two main ways to differentiate a land turtle, or terrestrial turtle, and an aquatic, or water turtle.

The first thing is just looking at their legs.

So the ones that will be in the water will have connected a membrane between their digits, and they will look more like a flipper.

So more like if it was a sea turtle.

So that way they can swim in the water.

The other way also is to look at their shell.

Land turtles most of times have a way more dome-shaped shell, and aquatic turtles or water turtles will have more flat shell.

So if you compare, for example, an Eastern box turtle with a slider, a red ear slider or a painted turtle, then you will see those differences.

So one of the biggest things that water or aquatic turtles are exposed to is to fish hooks or sinkers from people that does fishing as a sport.

Most of the times these turtles, what happens is the fish hook was lost in the water, they get confused and they think that's a prey or that's a fish and they will get it.

The same as a fish will get attracted, a turtle that will eat a fish can get attracted.

The second is actually when the fishermen are fishing, again, the turtle would get confused.

Most of those cases, people will realize that they fish a turtle and not a fish and then they will remove the hook.

But there is multiple occasions where at the Wildlife Center of Virginia we have seen turtles that may come to us because they have another injury or because somebody finds them with something sticking out of their mouth that most of the times is that fishing line.

So what we do here at the Wildlife Center which is take a radiograph in all our patients.

And sometimes we realize that they have one or multiple fish hooks or sinkers in their stomach, in their neck, in their limbs.

And that is really painful.

But also that can cause different issues in these turtles, especially when they ingest these fish hooks.

That can perforate the stomach, it can perforate the intestines, it can perforate the trachea, or the respiratory system.

So most of those cases are animals that we need to go and remove those fish hooks through surgery.

And there's different techniques that we can use.

Most of the times here at the Center we have high technology surgical equipment.

So we go through an endoscope has a tiny camera and really small instruments.

And that way we can remove those fish hooks from the stomach or the intestine or the neck of some of those aquatic turtles.

So you can see here we have a snapping turtle and this snapping turtle you can see has two different fish hooks.

One is stuck the neck and one is in the stomach.

The one that was in the neck was really easy to remove.

We just went with the endoscope, and we remove it pretty easy.

But the second one that was in the stomach, the first thing we tried to do is go through the endoscope and try to remove it.

But we realize that unfortunately that fish hook had perforated partially the stomach.

And then there was a lot of scar tissue protecting that fish hook.

And we were not able to remove it back with our instruments.

So our next second step was to actually open the turtle.

So what that happened to turtles is they have their bottom shell or their plastron, so that it gets complicated.

So we need to cut that plastron, we need to remove it to make a little window, and then have access to the stomach of that turtle.

And we try to remove it also that way.

>>Here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia we get a wide variety of turtle species.

Our most common aquatic species are snapping turtles and painted turtles.

Our terrestrial species include the endangered wood turtle, and our very common box turtle.

But we also unfortunately get turtles that don't belong here, not native species.

They are in fact, invaders.

The most common invader we say is the red eared slider.

Now, where do they come from?

They come from the pet trade, whether illegal or legal.

People have bought hundreds of thousands of these turtles over the years, taking them home as pets.

And then unfortunately, when they get tired of them, bored with them, or the turtle doesn't do well, they just take it out and turn it loose.

But those turtles don't belong in North American waters.

One of the problems with invasive species is they come from places we may never even know, and they bring with them things that are more trouble than the turtles themselves.

Many exotic turtles that are imported to the United States for the pet trade bring diseases or parasites to which that exotic turtle may be resistant, but which may completely overwhelm populations of native species.

So when people have a pet, they need to be responsible for it for the lifetime of that pet.

If you get tired of it, if you get bored with it, or you think you want to set it free, think again.

Invasive species are a serious problem, to many native species but especially to our turtles, >>We occasionally admit box turtles that were kept as pets.

When people encounter box turtles in the wild, they often think that they're friendly, because box turtles are very curious.

If a box turtle doesn't hide away in its shell, somebody may think that it's too friendly, they become concerned about it, or they think that it wants to be their pet.

So people will take box turtles home.

But these are very difficult animals to care for, reptiles in general are difficult to care for.

They require very specialized diets.

They require specialized heating, lighting, and enclosures.

And people often don't realize that when they take a wild reptile home as a pet.

Unfortunately, box turtles that are kept as pets can't be released back to the wild.

So we do see them here, when they're admitted as patients after somebody realizes they're just too much to handle as a pet.

So Wilson was likely kept as a pet.

He was found wandering around a park.

But his shell was painted bright purple.

We've seen several turtles that had their shells painted, people think it's fun, they don't realize the harm that it can cause.

And luckily, a human found Wilson before a predator did.

But they brought him to the Wildlife Center, we were able to gently scrub his shell clean.

But we could never return him to the wilds because we don't know where his real home was.

Box turtles have very small home ranges or territories.

And studies have shown that if you relocate a box turtle, they have a really difficult time surviving.

So it's very important that if you find a turtle, never take that animal home to keep as a pet, you never move them or relocate them, just leave them where you found them.

When Wilson and I travel to schools or libraries, we often ask people to make the turtle promise, which is I promise, I will not move box turtles unless I'm helping them cross the road.

Really the only time it's okay to pick up and move a box turtle is if you're helping them get across the road.

And in those situations, you really just gently pick them up and move them in the direction that they were already walking.

You don't move them far away, you don't move them to your backyard.

Even if you have the most amazing backyard for box turtles, it's really important that we leave turtles where we found them.

We know they just don't survive if they're moved away from their homes.

So Wilson, in particular, is our only education box turtle and he's extremely charismatic.

He's always out of his shell.

So you can see right now he's kind of moving his legs and wiggling around.

And when I talk about box turtles, Wilson is really helpful because he's out of his shell, I can talk about what makes box turtle so special, which is that they are able to box up their shell.

So if Wilson was feeling frightened or threatened he could tuck in his front legs here, his head and his neck kinda like that.

his back legs and his really cute little turtle tail.

And box turtles essentially have hinges on the bottom part of their shell that allows them to close up their shell nice and tight.

And that protects them.

So Wilson is not a great example of what a frightened box turtle looks like, because he's just very engaged with people.

>>So unfortunately, sometimes people that finds turtles in the wild decide to pain to their shells.

These can cause several problems to these different turtles.

The first thing that it can cause is some respiratory issues.

Because this paint, it have different chemicals that while they're painting the turtle the turtle will be breathing.

So it can cause a lot of respiratory issues or lung issues.

But also, we have to remember that the shell is like skin and bone.

So some of these chemicals that the different paint products may have may get absorbed through that bone, and through that skin.

And these may cause a generalized intoxication on the turtle.

Now unfortunately, when people does this they paint the turtles, they have fun for a few days, and then they release them back into the wild.

And some people find them.

So we don't know exactly what was the time since the turtle got first exposed to the chemical, to the point that we need to treat it.

Some of those turtles can be easily treated.

But some of those turtles may have still some of those chemicals in their body that may cause the immune system to go down, make them to be weak, to not be eating properly, those kind of things.

So how do we treat that at the Center?

Again, we need to make sure that that animal is well hydrated and the nutritional status is correct.

So we need to make sure that everything is moving slowly in their body so the defense system or the immune system starts recovering.

And we also help the systems through nutrition and through fluid therapy to start excreting some of those chemicals.

But also we have to remove the paint.

And that sometimes can be some challenge on removing the paints depending on the species and depending how much paint we have.

But one of the easiest ways is to scrub first that shell.

So we scrub it with water, and something as easy as sandpaper to start removing some of that dry paint that may be on that shell.

If that is too aggressive to the turtle sometimes unfortunately, we need to get to the point where we remove the whole keratin that is protecting this shell, and we get to the point that we need to expose the bone to make sure that we remove all those chemicals.

Also, there's a few species in Virginia that breathe through the shell.

So they have little spots are connected to the respiratory system.

So we cover that with paint, then they are not able to be breathing.

And again that causes respiratory issues in those turtles.

>>A lot of folks love turtles, and if they see one that is in harm's way they want to help.

So there are some things to remember.

If you find a turtle crossing a road or in the highway, it's perfectly fine to remove it from the highway if you do so safely.

But keep in mind that you can't just slam on the brakes in traffic and think that something bad is not going to happen to you, and often to the turtle by cars swerving around you.

If you do decide to move a turtle from the highway, don't take it to a new area or a new location because you think it might be safe.

Turtles are very territorial and very place oriented.

In fact, a box turtle may spend its entire 80 year lifespan within one square mile.

So leave them where they are, if it's at all possible.

If you are going to move a turtle out of the road, move it in the direction it was going, because if you take it back where it originated, it's just going to turn around and head back into the road.

When turtles are traveling like that and crossing roads and highways, they're on a mission.

They're looking for a mate, they're looking for a nesting spot, or they're returning to their native habitat.

So take them along their way, they know where they're going.

If you're interested in a turtle is a pet, in many states it is legal to keep native species as pets, and in almost all states you can go to a pet store and buy one.

But I encourage you to rethink that.

Turtles live a long time and they generally don't do well in captivity.

So if you choose to have a turtle as a pet, understand you're accepting responsibility for that animal for its entire life.

Once it has come into captivity, in many states, it is against the law to return it to the wild, even if it's a native species.

The reason for that is in captivity turtles get exposed to many types of pathogens that we don't want introduced to wild habitats.

Now if you're out moving around on a sunny day and you're enjoying the outdoors, especially near a river or stream or a lake and you encounter discarded fishing tackle, keep in mind that discarded fish hooks and fishing line are one of the leading causes of death for aquatic turtles.

If you find it, pick it up, even if it's not yours.

Cleaning the habitat of those potentially fatal threats will save the lives of turtles and it'll make you feel good about a day outdoors.

(dramatic music)