Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre In Peterborough Has Nearly 2,000 Eggs In Its Care

The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (OTCC) currently has nearly 2,000 eggs in its care during the busy current nesting season when so many injured turtles were brought in.

OTCC says on their Facebook page they are "currently incubating eggs from 6 species found in Ontario: Blanding's turtles, wood turtles, eastern musk turtles, northern map turtles, snapping turtles, and painted turtles."

Blanding's turtle eggs

OTCC encourages people to bring injured turtles to the centre, even if they think the turtle may already be dead. The reason: OTCC can retrieve and incubate the eggs that a female turtle had been carrying, so that the misfortunate event that injured or killed the mother does not have to determine the fate of her eggs as well.

This initiative is incredibly worthwhile, as 7 of Ontario's 8 turtle species are species at risk, including the Blanding's turtle (pictured above), which is a threatened species in Ontario.

Snapping turtle eggs

The round shape of snapping turtle eggs (pictured above) make them easy to identify, as other Ontario turtles lay oval eggs, according to OTTC's Facebook page post. The large body size of snapping turtles allow them to carry and lay the largest number of eggs in a single clutch. Snapping turtles can lay more than 50 eggs per clutch, while other Ontario species typically lay anywhere from 3-20 eggs in a clutch.

Painted turtle eggs

OTCC says they'll be sharing photos of the hatchlings once they start breaking out of their eggs over the next couple weeks to make sure to "Like" OTCC on Facebook to see the results!

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Watch The Moment Lakefield Family Reunites Baby Duck With Its Mamma In Kawarthas

Lifestyle vlogger Michelle Ferreri and her family spotted a baby duck in distress on Katchewanooka Lake in the Kawarthas on Monday evening (July 3rd) and acted on it.

The Lakefield family took the baby into their boat and began driving around the lake looking for its Mamma. After about an hour, they spotted a Mamma Duck and let baby Duck go in the hopes that was its mom.

It's just an amazing moment that will give you goosebumps when you watch as Michelle's daughter caught the moment baby hightails it back to its mom. Watch it below...

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Country Music Star Dean Brody Stopped By The Peterborough Humane Society... And (LOL) This Happened

Canadian Country music star Dean Brody was in Peterborough on Saturday performing at the Memorial Centre as part of his Beautiful Freakshow tour.

But Brody, a huge animal lover, also took some time out from his busy tour schedule to stop by the Peterborough Humane Society and visit with the dogs, cats, volunteers and staff.

Also, a cute and hilarious thing happened there that Brody posted about on his Facebook page, along with the below photo.

"We posed for a group shot and the kitten decided to have a poop—it was hysterical," the Humane Society's Susan Porter Dunkley tells PTBOCanada. "But Dean was a gentleman and he just smiled, caught it and then washed up. He is a class act for sure."

Congrats Dean, this will go down as one of the best poop catches ever caught on photograph!

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Anyone Missing A Peacock In Peterborough?

Steve Novak was surprised to see a Peacock early this morning around 7:15 a.m. (April 27th) on Beardsmore Road.

Photo by Steve Novak

"It must be from the zoo or farm as it was unafraid," Novak tells PTBOCanada. "I pulled over and got out—and was going to shoo it off the road and instead it shooed me back into my car!"

(The zoo tells PTBOCanada it's not their peacock.)

Photo by Steve Novak

It's definitely not often the case you see a peacock roaming the streets.

Photo by Steve Novak

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Peafowl Can Now Roam The Grounds At Riverview Park & Zoo

The Riverview Park & Zoo put out a message on Facebook about peafowl now being allowed to roam the grounds that is getting great response—with people fondly recalling when the peafowl used to be able to do this or excited to see it for the first time through their kid's eyes.

"We saw them today!! My daughter was SO excited when we found them!!" one mother posted on the zoo's Facebook page, along with this photo below.

"Last Wednesday we released several of our Common Peafowl on the zoo grounds," Jim Moloney, the zoo's Manager & Curator, tells PTBOCanada. "We have done this with the intent of allowing these birds to roam the property. The objective of the release was to allow more room for the birds to explore, providing them with additional enrichment in their lives and to allow an unobstructed view of the Peafowl by our guests."

Peafowl chillin' out

"We are asking that our guests respect the birds by not approaching them too closely, not feeding them and by not chasing them," Moloney tells PTBOCanada.

Great idea zoo! Well played.

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Miracle Turtle Babies: How 8 Hatchlings Were Born In Peterborough

Peterborough-based Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre posted this extraordinary, beautiful story on their Facebook page about hatchlings born from a Blanding's turtle. The post is getting hundreds of shares for good reason. Here it is re-posted below, along with the photos from their Facebook page post:

"One of our recovering Blanding's turtles has a story to tell... She was hit by a car in June, 2016 and brought in by a biologist from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry who is doing a study on Blanding's turtles. This Blanding's is doing well and will be released sometime this year."

"She had a clutch of eggs that was harvested and incubated from June to August, resulting in 7 healthy hatchlings."

"What is more surprising is that on January 17th, one of our volunteers found that she had laid another ten eggs in the water!! They were quickly gathered and put into an incubator. Much to our surprise, in March, eight of the eggs hatched!"

"How is this possible? Female Blanding's turtles can store sperm for years! Males and females don't hang out all that much, so the gals get what they need and take it with them. True story."

This shows the difference in size between the hatchlings from her first clutch (on the left) and those from her second clutch (on the right).

You can see the hatchlings as they are part of a public access viewing area at the Ontario Turtle Conversation Centre. "Like" their Facebook page here.

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Here's An Otter Sliding Across The Frozen Trent Canal In Peterborough

The Weather Network posted this hilarious video of an otter sliding across the frozen Trent Canal on the Trent Severn Waterway in Peterborough. For Pete's sake, get this dude some skates and a hockey stick...

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A Man Rescued A Deer Stuck On A Tennis Court On Stoney Lake

Cottager Randal Myers was out walking his dog on Sunday (January 15th) on a Stoney Lake cottage road near Peterborough when he witnessed something you don't see every day: a deer trapped on a tennis court.

"I heard the deer crashing into the fencing of the tennis court at my neighbour's cottage two doors over," Myers tells PTBOCanada. "I put the dog in the house and went over to see if I could help the deer escape. It was running and jumping at the fence. Blood was coming from its mouth where it had been hitting the fence."

Photo by Randal Myers, Facebook

The deer had jumped the short portion of the fence to get in but then could not find its way out, and Myers had to act quick.

"I took a shovel and dug out snow around the gate to get it open," Myers tells PTBOCanada. "Then I walked around the outside of the fence where the deer was jumping at the fence hoping to get it to move towards the open gate. The deer was winded and tired just walking up to me. I was afraid it might get its leg caught in the fence."

Photo by Randal Myers, Facebook

Myers didn't want to cause the deer more stress so he decided to leave and let the deer calm down, get its bearings, and hopefully find the open gate.

"When I returned an hour later, the deer had escaped," Myers tells PTBOCanada. "I just felt lucky that the deer wasn't severely injured and it was a happy ending."

Photo by Randal Myers, Facebook

Myers' quick thinking helped save the deer from possibly bleeding to death or getting stuck in the fencing and injuring itself further. It was lucky he was up for a winter weekend in the Kawarthas to be able to act and help the deer eventually escape.

Photo by Randal Myers, Facebook

This incident is also a reminder to leave your gates open on fenced enclosures in the winter when you're not there.

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