{"id":5209,"date":"2013-09-12T21:15:52","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T21:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acornelc.ca\/cms\/?page_id=5209"},"modified":"2013-09-12T21:15:52","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T21:15:52","slug":"saving-ella-the-neighborhood-turtle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/acornelc.ca\/cms\/saving-ella-the-neighborhood-turtle\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Ella, The Neighborhood Turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is with great anticipation every spring that everyone, young and old, watches and waits for the water to come back into the canal, the ponds adn the creeks.\u00a0 The children are anxious to spot the fish and the turtles who live in the ponds and to feed the ducks.\u00a0 So, it comes as no surprise that the children from Acorn Early Learning Centre everyday check out Paterson\u2019s Creek on their way to and from First Avenue School.<\/p>\n

At first, she just looked like a large rock in the mud in the bottom of Patterson\u2019s Creek.\u00a0 Upon closer examination, there were legs, tail and a head.\u00a0 At first, the turtle seemed to be quite peaceful and happy to us and we always looked forward to seeing her day after day.\u00a0 After a couple of weeks though, we noticed that she had not moved for many days and began to worry about her.\u00a0 So we made a plan to help the turlte because we suspected that she would not survive the filling of the canal with no place to crawl up onto to breathe.\u00a0 Patterson\u2019s Creek is so beautiful with its new stone walls, but not a place for a turtle who wasn\u2019t moving.\u00a0 The plan required a ladder, a milk crate and our wagon to move the turtle to a muddy bank not far away.<\/p>\n

The other detail had to deal with the legality of being in the creek and also taking the turtle to a new home.\u00a0 I contacted the City of Ottawa and then, a group called \u201cTurtle S.H.E.L.L. Tortue\u201d.\u00a0 Michelle from Turtleshell quickly made it clear that leaving the turtle one more night might be devastating and even too late.\u00a0 She convinced me to take action quickly, that\u00a0very night as this turtle probably hadn\u2019t eatin since last October, was awakened early by the warm weather, was now cold and had no food available for many weeks.\u00a0 In short, she was probably starving.\u00a0 That was also when we identified her as a \u201cSnapping Turtle\u201d due to her size, about 14-years-old.\u00a0 (Snapers can live to be 75 years old).<\/p>\n

With a borrowed ladder, Eva\u2019s grandmother\u2019s fishing net, Miss Jen\u2019s rubber boots, the oven mitts from the kitchen, a wet towel in a large container and the support from Cameron, Owen and Mom O\u2019Grady, I proceeded into the pond to save the turlte.\u00a0 She was so weak that she only moved her toe when I picked her up.\u00a0 Before I even left the pond, I was on the phone with Michelle who told me what to do.\u00a0 I shopped for food and syringes and quickly drove home.\u00a0 I also wrapped her in blankets to warm her up.\u00a0 Throughout the night and the next morning, I fed her using a syringe.\u00a0 (You can imagine the difficulty of trying to open the moutn of a snapping turtle when it doesn\u2019t want to).\u00a0 Although she was very weak, she was finally swallowing on her own by the morning, opening her eyes, and looking a me.<\/p>\n

I brought her to Acorn that morning so that the children would know her story and begin to understand their role in our envionment.\u00a0 Soon, she was named \u201cElla, The Turtle\u201d by the children.<\/p>\n

By that morning, the canal was already filling.\u00a0 Ella was picked up by a volunteer from Turtle S.H.E.L.L. Tortue and taken to the turtle hospital where she had a little swim, had a little drink and was slowly progressing by the end of that day.\u00a0 After being fully assessed that night, she was listed in \u201cserious condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been a week and a day now since she has been under the great care of Michelle and Suzanne at Turtle Re-Hab.\u00a0 Although not yet eating on her own and having to be tube fed, she is becoming stronger and stronger.\u00a0 She has had her first \u201cpoop\u201d since her rescue, and it is especially good news that everything is starting to work now.\u00a0 She will remain in Turtle Rehab for at least a month as she continues to heal.\u00a0 Suzanne has sent us a picture of Ella in her new surroundings being warmed in blankets.\u00a0 I would like to thank both Michele and Suzanne for keeping us up-to-date on her progress, and parents and many community members for their support.<\/p>\n

Since she is ia \u201csnapping turtle\u201d and now an endangered species (December 2009), there are many strick rules as to where she will be put back.\u00a0 She is also very territorial by nature.\u00a0 Because of the rules, she will probably be placed back at Patterson\u2019s Creek\u00a0or in a nearby and suitable spot given her size.\u00a0 You can only imagine the crowd who will come to see her off as she is now part of the Acrorn Family.\u00a0 GO ELLA GO!!!!!<\/p>\n

Thought for the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a chance to help the \u201csnapping turtle species\u201d who may become extinct by the time our children grow into adulthood.\u00a0 Thank goodness we had his opportunity to address this issue through education of ourselves and our children, care of our environment and Turtle S.H.E.L.L Tortue, a registered Canadian Charitable Organization dedicated to turtles. Their website is\u00a0www.turtleshelltortue.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Miss Joanne is director of Acorn Early Learning Centre<\/p>\n\"\"\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is with great anticipation every spring that everyone, young and old, watches and waits for the water to come back into the canal, the ponds adn the creeks.\u00a0 The children are anxious to spot the fish and the turtles who live in the ponds and to feed the ducks.\u00a0 So, it comes as no… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-FullWidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"\nSaving Ella, The Neighborhood Turtle - Acorn Early Learning Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acornelc.ca\/cms\/saving-ella-the-neighborhood-turtle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saving Ella, The Neighborhood Turtle - Acorn Early Learning Centre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is with great anticipation every spring that everyone, young and old, watches and waits for the water to come back into the canal, the ponds adn the creeks.\u00a0 The children are anxious to spot the fish and the turtles who live in the ponds and to feed the ducks.\u00a0 So, it comes as no... 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