Ontario Turtle Conservation Center
Project Details
Location
OTCC's mission is to protect and conserve Ontario’s Native Turtles and their Habitat.
Placement Details
The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (OTCC) is a registered charity whose goal is to protect and conserve Ontario’s native turtles and the habitat in which they live. The OTCC provides a unique service to mitigate the impact of vehicle collisions and other threats to Ontario’s at-risk native freshwater turtle species through their fully integrated turtle hospital and education center.
They accomplish this by operating a turtle hospital that treats, rehabilitates, and releases injured turtles; performing extensive research in the field to further conservation initiatives; a hatchling program to replenish populations; and running a comprehensive education and outreach program, including tours of the hospital and conservation center.
Participants play a key role in the husbandry and rehabilitative care of injured turtles, as well as the care of the hatchlings. OTCC generates a wealth of data through its work, and the participants may be responsible for organizing the data to be shared with partner organizations. Participants also deliver tours, workshops, and programs to visitors of the Education Center.
Placement Category: Wildlife Advocacy and Rehab; Community Outreach and Education
Placement Season: Flexible
Placement Type: Urban, Field/Lab
2023 Participant Highlights
Participants Juliette Langlois and Taryn Smit
The placement with OTCC gave Juliette many responsibilities in managing the care of turtles of all ages and abilities. She was responsible for over a thousand incubating and hatching turtle eggs. The consistency in tasks and the support of the OTCC team boosted Juliette’s belief in the quality of her work. She is excited to bring this newfound confidence into her future positions in the environmental field.
Check out Juliette’s feature on @oceanwiseyouth here
2021-2022 Participant Highlight
Participants Rahana Ebrahim and Isabel Gutierrez Hermosillo Morales
Ocean Pathways participants are an integral part of OTCC’s medical, education, outreach and community engagement team. Rahana and Isabel’s work with the OTCC involved a lot of different projects! From turtle husbandry and rehabilitative care of injured turtles, eggs and hatchlings; to delivering tours, workshops and programs to visitors at the Education Centre; to helping to run the OTCC social media accounts. All participants’ placements involve a lot of hands-on turtle care, as well as a large component of public outreach and education. This is super important, as the biggest threat to native freshwater turtle species in Ontario is humans, and education is one major way to help the turtles!
Participants Niki Coutinho and Skylar Meik
Niki’s work with the OTCC involved a lot of different projects! From turtle husbandry and rehabilitative care of injured turtles, eggs and hatchlings; to delivering tours, workshops and programs to visitors at the Education Centre; to helping to run the OTCC social media accounts, Niki stayed busy during her placement.
Skylar says “I joined this program because I wanted to be involved in my community and support local organizations that cared about conservation as much as I do. I knew that with any experience and opportunity I was given, it was going to be exceptional and there are no words to describe how amazing the OTCC truly is.”
There was a lot to learn and many new things to try, but Skylar did a great job at taking things in stride, even completing an Instagram takeover and publishing a blog about her experiences! Her most valuable takeaway was to not be afraid to take a chance on something new that you’re passionate about! Helping to rehabilitate and release turtles into the wild was an amazing part of Skylar’s placement.
