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Let the Turtledogs open the door to the genius and complexity of nature that lies waiting in the forest. Turtles survived the great extinction which extirpated the mighty dinosaurs.
Wildlife Research: Take your research project to a new level. We will come to your study site and find as many turtles as we can so you can mark or transmitter them for your study. The turtledogs have successfully worked for the following companies and individuals:
- Oxbow Associates - Acton, Massachusetts - box turtle surveys near Mattapoisett, MA
- Clinch River Environmental Studies (CRESO) - Oak Ridge, TN - turtle surveys and research
- Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge, Maryland - the Lucille Stickle site - box turtle surveys
- Camp Chestnut Ridge Nature Camp - Efland, NC - box turtle research and surveys
- Oglebay's Good Zoo - Wheeling, West Virginia - box turtle surveys
- Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge, northwest Illinois - for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - ornate box turtle research and surveys on 17 remnant tallgrass prairie sites
- Pine Ridge Indian Reservation - South Dakota - ornate box turtle research in mixed grass prairies for Oglala Lakota College
- Earthshine Mountain Lodge – Lake Toxaway, North Carolina. Earthshine Lodge’s unique Eastern Box Turtle research and conservation project “Turtle Tracks” has had John and the Turtle Dogs search for turtles at the lodge since 2007.
Turtle Rescue: The turtledogs have worked on the following sites:
- 2010. Future corridor of Interstate 69 between Indianapolis and Evansville Indiana. The turtledogs rescued 61 box turtles from a 9.2 mile stretch of the Lane of Disturbance or LOD--a 100 yard wide swath where the highway will be constructed The turtles are being held in a holding area while a turtle-excluder fence is built to keep them from venturing into the LOD or onto the new highway. John and the turtledogs have been invited back to Indiana in 2011 to conduct further turtle rescue operations on 30 more miles of the new highway.
- 2001-2010. Intercounty Connector (ICC) - Olney, Maryland - Hundreds of box turtles were caught by the turtledogs and moved to safety from the future six lane highway right-of-way.
- 2007. Earthshine Mountain Lodge Lake Toxaway, North Carolina. A study turtle escaped from a temporary holding enclosure and the Turtle Dogs found it in less than one hour.
Education: The turtledogs have been featured at the following locations:
- Science/Herpetology camps
- Camp Chestnut Ridge - "Slip Slidin' Away" (the N.C. state high school herpetology camp)- Efland, NC
- "Turtle Day" - High Point Environmental Center - High Point, NC
- Oak Ridge Science Camp - sponsored by Oak Ridge National Laboratories - Oak Ridge, Tennessee
- Schools
- Washington Christian Academy - Olney, Maryland -
- Bethany Charter School - Bethany, NC
- Centennial Elementary School - Raleigh, NC
*The turtledogs were a big hit at "Turtle Day" at Washington Christian Academy in Olney, Maryland in May of 2010. Contact us if you are interested in having John and the turtledogs visit your school for a turtledog show.
"John and his dogs came to my study site for two days in 2007. They found a study turtle that had escaped from a holding pen and over a dozen new turtles in six hours! Without John and his amazing dogs it would have taken me countless man-hours, years...to find that many turtles! John and his dogs are amazing to behold and they are a great asset to anyone working with the conservation of box turtles."
--Steve O'Neil, Naturalist at Earthshine Mountain Lodge in Lake Toxaway, NC.
