To Snap Another Day

My wife Carol and I enjoyed the brisk, cool breeze that followed the previous night’s cool front as we walked through the gate and out to the holding ponds at the Natchitoches Fish Hatchery. We had come to watch the staff collect alligator snapping turtles for their new restocking program.

Biologist technician Vanessa Ortiz explained what was going on.

“Alligator snapping turtles are being considered for listing on the threatened species list because their numbers are declining as the result of a loss of habitat and harvesting. Here in Louisiana an individual is allowed to harvest one turtle per day.”

To help keep the turtle population healthy, the fish hatchery has branched out from raising just fish to a new program to also raise alligator snapping turtles to be released back into the wild.

Currently, the hatchery has thirty-three turtles in two shallow ponds surrounded by what looks like a prison fence. Cane River Lake is only a couple of hundred yards away, and the fence is designed to keep the turtles from escaping.

When first put into the ponds, each turtle was weighed, had blood drawn, and was subjected to a genetic test. Then a small computer chip was implanted containing the individual’s information. The chips, however, do not transmit a signal, so they cannot be used to actually locate the turtle.

When we arrived the two ponds had been drained, but shad, bream, and a few catfish were flopping in the scattered pools of water. According to Ortiz, they are put into the ponds to feed the turtles.

Hatchery manager Grant Webber said that among their thirty-three turtles were two large males that weighed about 175 lbs. and were approximately one hundred years old.

Genetic tests had revealed that two other turtles were not native to our area. They were collected as part of a law enforcement case, but the biologists don’t know their point of origin.

Ortiz explained, “We will keep them separated from the others because we want the genes of the native turtles to stay pure. Hopefully, as more studies are done, we will find out where they came from.”

Collecting the turtles was very low-tech. Armed with long poles, the staff waded through the muck probing the bottom. The turtles can remain under the mud for a very long time, and it was somewhat labor-intensive to locate them.

Once dug out of the mud, they were brought to the collecting point, their chips were scanned to identify the individual turtle, and most were placed in a large wooden box for holding. The two largest turtles were taken back to the hatcheries facilities in ATVs.

Some turtles were briefly left on the ground unattended and moved surprisingly quickly back toward the ponds. They had to be run down and recaptured before they disappeared back into the muck.

According to Webber, the Natchitoches alligator snapping turtles will serve as a breeding stock. “We will collect the eggs, raise them until they can survive in the wild, and then release them at various places.”

It will take as long as two years to have turtles ready to be released into the wild, but, hopefully, the program will keep the alligator snapping turtle population healthy and off the threatened species list.