After catching and evaluating a red-bellied cooter, MassWildlife and US Fish and Wildlife Service released the endangered turtle back into the Ipswich River.
Recently IRWA Staff was joined by MassWildlife at the Ipswich Mills Dam to investigate sightings of an endangered species of turtle, a Northern red-bellied cooter. After observing the turtle on and around the rocks directly below the dam, the turtle was brought into MassWildlife custody for further assessment. With no previous data suggesting this turtle came from known populations in southeastern Massachusetts, MassWildlife, along with US Fish and Wildlife, decided to release the turtle back into the Ipswich River.
“In consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, we (MassWildlife) decided to release the male red-bellied cooter back into the Ipswich River (above the dam) with a VHF radiotransmitter. We will monitor its movements by radiotelemetry over the remainder of the summer. We could not conclusively determine that the male from the dam had originated in southeastern Massachusetts, so it was not clearly the best management decision to release the turtle in that area. And because the animal found near Peatfield landing and reported last year was clearly different from the male found at the dam, we would like to better understand the extent and size of this occurrence,” says Mike Jones, MassWildlife’s State Herpetologist.
Last year, as the Ipswich Mills Dam removal pursued permitting approval, photos of a red-bellied cooter in the Ipswich River were submitted for review. This is now the second sighting, and the first microchipped cooter in the Ipswich River. This is significant because the nearest known population is in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Archaeological evidence suggests this species inhabited the Ipswich River 1,000 years ago, making this the first confirmed sighting in modern times.
About Red-bellied Cooters
Red-bellied cooters resemble the common Eastern painted turtle but are significantly larger, weighing up to 12 lbs. These basking turtles have a black to brown upper shell with faint reddish markings, which become more pronounced in males and darker with age.
Northern red-bellied cooters are listed as endangered on both the Massachusetts and Federal Endangered Species Lists. In the 1980s, the estimated state population in Massachusetts was around 300, with the next-nearest population 200 miles away in New Jersey. Since 1984, MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program has released 5,000 “head-started” hatchlings into southeastern Massachusetts’ ponds and waterways.
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