The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Woodland Park Zoo recently released 37 young western pond turtles to a local protected site. This action marks 35 years of conservation efforts for Washington state’s endangered turtle.
The species was listed as endangered in Washington in 1993 and has seen more than 2,300 turtles head-started through the ongoing recovery project.
The released turtles are part of the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project. Every summer, Wash. Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists retrieve eggs from wild nests and transport them to Woodland Park Zoo…