Kelowna woman urges drivers to slow down for turtles crossing the road during mating season

Keep your eyes peeled if you’re driving anywhere near a pond or wetland, especially this time of year.

It’s turtle nesting season, and the Western Painted Turtle is at risk not just from loss of habitat, which has landed it on BC’s Blue List. It’s also at risk from vehicles.

A Kelowna resident recently posted on a public Facebook group urging motorists in Wilden to slow down after she and her son came across some turtles crossing Union Road near Still Pond.

“We saw two turtles attempting to cross the road. One had been killed by being run over,” said Nicole Rustad, who lives in the area.

“We stopped immediately because one of the problems with the roadways is that the ledge to go over onto the sidewalk, it’s too hard for a turtle to get up and over,” she explained, saying they gave the reptile a boost so it could carry on its way.

Rustad is also worried that the construction currently underway in Wilden will disturb the habitat the species needs to survive.

“We sometimes forget that we live in a natural habitat ourselves, even though we’ve built it up. Wilden was, I think, created with the idea that you live in nature, and nature is all around us.”

She wants people to realize there are several native species that live all around where we work and play, and the public can do more to help.

Turtle crossing signs are often posted in areas where the animals are known to travel between waterways. However, the creatures can be hard to spot, sometimes looking like large rocks.

“If you’re paying attention and you’re driving slow, you should be able to see them,” says Justin DeMerchant, of the Okanagan Turtle Adoption Program. He helps rehome pet turtles to ensure they aren’t released into the wild, where they threaten native species like the Western Painted Turtle.

He says May and June is when the animals are the most active, as they search for nesting areas.

“We do see them crossing the road throughout the entire summer as well. So, its good to be on the lookout for turtles the entire season.”

The City of West Kelowna installed a crossing underneath Westlake Road in 2022 to improve a turtle crossing in that area, so the creatures could go under, instead of over the roadway.

DeMerchant says it’s also important to not disturb the turtles, or the edges of the ponds where they lay their eggs.

The Okanagan has one of the highest concentrations of painted turtles in British Columbia.

If you want to learn more about the species, DeMerchant will be giving a free talk on turtles at the Allan Brooks Nature Centre in Vernon on Saturday, June 17 at 11:30 a.m.

Photo: Justin DeMerchant

A painted turtle floats in Still Pond.