Turtles taken from Crestline park

Officials at the Crawford Park District are unsure whether four snapping turtles taken from one of their enclosures, most likely over the weekend, were stolen or simply released. Either way, they’re not happy about it, but they’re heartened by the fact that one of them has been found.

The turtles, which weigh from 30 to 33 pounds and are probably about 75 years old, if not older, went missing after the fence surrounding their enclosure was cut sometime after Thursday.

Josh Dyer, the program coordinator for the district, headquartered at Lowe-Volk Park, 2401 Ohio 598 near Crestline, said Logan Masters, a naturalist at the park, found one of the turtles in a nearby wetland.

“The fact that one has been located doesn’t mean the others are there. I don’t know, that’s a possibility,” Dyer said.

“But the intent was there. This was premeditated, they needed a wrench to cut the back of the enclosure off. They didn’t destroy anything, and if these were just vandals they would’ve destroyed something.”

The park district had only had the turtles for a little more than a month, and was prepared to release them before the end of September so they could find a place to hibernate, since the park is unable to house them for the winter.

“They’re not that common, and little is known about the lives of snapping turtles. We were going to outfit them with transmitters so we could track them. I was looking forward to that,” Dyer said.

He added that the Crawford Park District has a state permit to keep animals for educational purposes, and said the snapping turtles had been very popular with kids over the summer.

After the district posted news about the turtles’ disappearance on Facebook on Sunday, the post received 20,000 views and 450 shares.

“It’s an emotional thing for me,” Dyer said. He’s evidently not alone.

“Wow, this is really unbelievable. We have enjoyed watching the turtles,” Lois Harr wrote on the Crawford Park District’s Facebook page. “My grandson couldn’t wait to take his mom to see them. Kids are going to be very upset by this.”

Last year, a flying squirrel was taken from the park district’s facilities at Lowe-Volk. As with the snapping turtles, it was unknown whether the squirrel was stolen for some reason, or released by someone who didn’t want to see it in a cage.

Dyer said the park district exists to educate people about nature and help them become more environmentally aware, not to keep animals captive.

“In this day and age when you can’t trust what’s around the next corner and there are drugs all over the community, this is a good, wholesome thing that we’re trying to do and people see that,” he said.

“They believe in what we’re trying to do. They’re tired of seeing stuff like this happen.”

Dyer said he is considering setting up a trap in the pond where one of the snapping turtles was found to see if the rest of them migrated there, although he’s not holding out a lot of hope.

“These are secretive-type animals. They don’t come up and bask that often,” he said, adding that the largely sedentary turtles are often referred to as moss-backs because algae is known to grow on their shells.

Anyone with information about the missing turtles is asked to call the Crawford Park District at 419-683-9000 or the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office at 419-562-7906.

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ