WESTBOROUGH — On Wednesday, state and federal officials joined over 100 students and researchers at MassWildlife’s Field Headquarters on Rabbit Hill Road to celebrate Endangered Species Day and the 40th anniversary of the cooter headstart program— one of the nation’s longest-running freshwater turtle conservation programs.
National Endangered Species Day, observed annually on the third Friday of May, will fall on Friday, May 17, 2024, this year.
According to MassWildlife, the northern red-bellied cooter, a turtle native to Massachusetts, is listed as endangered under both federal and state endangered species acts.
Through the headstart program, turtle hatchlings are collected in early fall and housed in educational and scientific facilities statewide. For eight to nine months, they are nurtured in warm aquariums with ample food, accelerating their growth and reducing early-life predator risks. This preparation provides a critical “head start” before their release back into the wild.
“This year, we will be tagging and releasing the 5,000th headstarted hatchling into ponds and waterways in southeastern Massachusetts since the first release in 1984,” said Dr. Mike Jones, MassWildlife’s State Herpetologist (herpetologists are zoologists who specialize in the study of reptiles and amphibians). “When the headstart project began, the estimated population was only 300 cooters in Massachusetts, and it’s now over 2,000.”
On Wednesday, partner organizations delivered headstarted turtles to MassWildlife Field Headquarters for release into the wild. Before this, biologists inserted a Passive Integrated Tag (PIT) into each turtle for future tracking and monitoring. The turtles were then prepared for release either back to their original hatching locations or to suitable nearby reintroduction sites.
Like many turtles in Massachusetts, northern red-bellied cooter hatchlings face numerous predators, and few reach adulthood. Threats such as habitat loss and illegal poaching also jeopardize their survival. Successful recovery efforts require collaboration among local, state, and federal entities. The Massachusetts Endangered Species Act protects over 430 species, including the northern red-bellied cooter, underscoring the importance of these partnerships.
“Thanks to long-term partnerships between MassWildilfe and headstart groups, the future of the northern red-bellied cooter is looking hopeful,” said Audrey Mayer, a field office supervisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of New England. “The headstart program has given a boost to local populations and improved the likelihood of the species’ recovery, while helping educate the public about the challenges facing turtles and many other types of wildlife.”
