Turtle Protectors

Turtle Protectors We advocate, support and protect our precious Turtle relatives while embracing all our kin!

Join artists, Macie Dixon and Claudia Luz Doare, to celebrate the mural they created to honour turtle. You'll hear how...
10/08/2026

Join artists, Macie Dixon and Claudia Luz Doare, to celebrate the mural they created to honour turtle. You'll hear how their time with turtles this nesting season inspired their co-creation!

After the artist talk, we'll move around the mural collectively as turtles' lifecycle unfolds with the help of a beautiful puppet!

This is a fantastic opportunity for educators working near High Park. You will learn how to use this beautiful mural as a tool to teach students about turtles and what they can do to help contribute to turtle conservation.

Families welcome and encouraged!

Event:
High Park Mural Unveiling
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Meet at the shed located near the fishing dock in High Park (see map)

Miigwetch to Canada Summer Jobs for supporting the artists' time. Miigwetch to World Animal Protection Canada for supporting the mural materials.

And as always miigwetch to turtle.

Join us this Thursday, October 8 at 6 pm in the parking lot of Etienne Brule Park to marvel at salmon and learn more abo...
10/06/2026

Join us this Thursday, October 8 at 6 pm in the parking lot of Etienne Brule Park to marvel at salmon and learn more about salmon and their connection to turtles! We'll also share some of the incredible turtle stories from this season in the park!!!

Wetland Walk at Etienne Brule Park
Thursday, October 8
6:00 to 7:00 pm
Meet in the Etienne Brule Parking lot - we'll be right next to our yellow storage bin!!

Miigwetch to TD Friends of the Environment Foundation for supporting our wetland walks!

Please join us in High Park to honour National Truth and Reconciliation Day. Meet in front of Grenadier Cafe a little b...
09/27/2026

Please join us in High Park to honour National Truth and Reconciliation Day. Meet in front of Grenadier Cafe a little before 6 pm on Wednesday, September 30.

Carolynne Crawley will lead the walk with , a proud Bear clan matriarch, Hand drum carrier and 60’s scoop witness.

Hope to see you there! Each walk will share park specific stories and observations!Meet in front of the big pond at Bri...
09/26/2026

Hope to see you there! Each walk will share park specific stories and observations!

Meet in front of the big pond at Brick Works at 2 pm
Meet in front of the Fire Hall at Biidaasige at 3:30 pm

Turtle Protectors is an important and rewarding full time job without the salary. Being volunteer-led means we need to f...
09/25/2026

Turtle Protectors is an important and rewarding full time job without the salary. Being volunteer-led means we need to find ways to financially support ourselves. Co-founder, Carolynne, is having a yard sale tomorrow. Stop by just to say hi or support by making a purchase. Miigwetch!

These hatchlings are so brave. They have just emerged from their underground nest (mom laid her eggs on June 10 - see ...
09/22/2026

These hatchlings are so brave. They have just emerged from their underground nest (mom laid her eggs on June 10 - see picture two) and are walking into a quiet marsh on the Humber.

Learn more about turtles, their lifecycles, the threats they face, our work and how you can help by coming to one of our upcoming free wetland walks.

Humber Bay Park East Park
Thursday September 24, 6 to 7 pm
Meet in Humber Bay East Parking Lot at the start of the boardwalk

Don Valley Brick Works Park
Saturday September 26, 2 to 3 pm
Meet in front of the first big pond

Biidaasige Park
Saturday September 26, 3 to 4:30 pm
Meet in front of the Fire Hall

High Park (National Truth and Reconciliation Walk)
Wednesday September 30, 6 to 7 pm
Meet in front of the Grenadier Cafe

All walks are family friendly and accessible (walks will be on hardened paths).

Miigwetch to TD Friends of the Environment Foundation for supporting our free Wetland Walks.

Walk with Grassy Narrows youth and community members to show that we are with them on their path to achieve mercury just...
09/21/2026

Walk with Grassy Narrows youth and community members to show that we are with them on their path to achieve mercury justice and freedom!

Turtle Protectors will be there!!!

This is a family-friendly event. Rain or shine!

For more information please visit freegrassy.net

We try really hard to protect all turtle mamas and nests during nesting season (late May to mid-July), but naturally, we...
09/15/2026

We try really hard to protect all turtle mamas and nests during nesting season (late May to mid-July), but naturally, we miss some! During hatchling season (late August to October) we find hatchlings from nests we didn't know about. If we're lucky, we find the emergence hole as we did at Etienne Brule Park and King's Mill last week. Finding the nest site is helpful because mamas typically return to the same spot year after year. This is called site fidelity. So next year we'll keep a close eye on these new nest sites, looking for mom to return.

Today we found 33 hatchlings at Humber Bay Park but not the actual nest site. We didn't want to risk stepping on hatchlings while looking for the emergence hole in the thick vegetation.

We also had our first hatchlings of the year at Woodbine Park! City staff helped find some in the grass!!!

If you're in a Toronto Park, please look down for hatchlings. If you see one, please call us at 647-491-4057 - we'll send volunteers to look for more because there is rarely just one!

Miigwetch to all of our volunteers who have collectively donated over 12,000 hours of their time to support turtles who call Toronto home!!!

We released our first hatchlings in Biidaasige Park yesterday! These tiny Snapping Turtles were sent off in such a good...
09/09/2026

We released our first hatchlings in Biidaasige Park yesterday! These tiny Snapping Turtles were sent off in such a good way. Don't Mess with the Don lent us boats so that we could get these little ones to spots along the river with good reeds for hiding and in spots where there are typically fewer predators.

The paddles were perfect for getting the hatchlings deeper in the reeds and allowed them to enter the water when they were ready. We call this "turtle time"

This was such a special release.

Miigwetch to Lawrence, co-founder and president of Don't Mess with the Don for meeting us in the park, lending us boats and joining us in the release.

And chi miigwetch to our committed volunteers in Biidaasige Park. And to Nova and Derek for sharing their photos.

No one knows exactly how long turtle eggs can survive underwater. It's definitely more than minutes but how many hours ...
09/03/2026

No one knows exactly how long turtle eggs can survive underwater. It's definitely more than minutes but how many hours is unknown. Don Valley Brick Works Park is underwater when the water levels go above HHA (see photo 1).

After the flood of 2024, we were able to excavate over 120 eggs from nests that were underwater for 1 to 2 hours. Over 90 of them hatched!

Typically, after a flooding event, once water has receded, we dig a test hole outside of the nest protectors to see if the cavity fills up with water. If it does, we know the ground is supersaturated, meaning the eggs can't breathe, so we excavate the nest and transport eggs to Toronto Wildlife Centre.

We are hoping that the eggs and hatchlings are ok and sending our best to all of the beings who call Brick Works home, including the hatchlings we released on Friday.

Address

High Park
Toronto, ON

Telephone

+16474914057

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