MINNEAPOLIS -- The autumn turtle migration season is beginning in Minnesota, and many hatchlings are headed for life threatening encounters with auto tires.
Several baby turtles cold be seen attempting to cross Betty Crocker Drive near the General Mills corporate headquarters in Golden Valley, attempting to reach Bassett Creek on the other side of the road.
"They're digging their way out of the sand, or your garden, or wherever it was that mom laid her eggs," Lori Naumann of the Minnesota DNR told KARE.
"They do this by instinct. They crawl out. They find a wetland or water and they will dig themselves down deep enough to go below the frost line so they don't freeze to death."
The DNR has posted the best advice for motorists to safely deal with turtles crossing the road.
"Never slam on your brakes; it's never worth a human life," Naumann cautioned.
"Pull over on the shoulder, put your hazard lights on. Sometimes that's enough to slow traffic down enough to avoid hitting the turtle."
She said if it can be safely done, without putting yourself in jeopardy, you can pick up the turtle and move it to the other side of the road.
"But always move it toward the side of the road it was heading toward, because otherwise it will turn right around and go crawl back into traffic."
Turtle Tunnel Update
And now that migration season is about to begin in earnest, it seemed like a good time to revisit Turtle Tunnel the Washington County Parks Department built near Big Marine Park Reserve near June.
"The intent is really to keep this roadway safe for the drivers," Peter Mott told KARE. "And if turtle conservation, reptile conservation occurs at the same time we think that's a win-win."
Mott expects turtles to start moving from their nesting areas back to Big Marine Lake in the next month, and the hope is that they'll cross under 170th Street instead of going over it.
The tunnel has had visitors, captured with a motion activated flash camera built into the entrance
"Lizards, skinks, weasels, woodchucks, snakes -- quite a variety of animals moving through the tunnel -- but no turtles yet," Mott explained.
The slots on top let the light in, as well as rain water, to keep animals from turning it into a den. He believes it's only a matter of time before the low profile reptiles and amphibians give the new subterranean thoroughfare a try.
A long fence runs parallel to the highway on both sides of the tunnel, designed to funnel the incoming turtles toward the focal point of the underground crossing.
"The very ends of the fence are curled back toward grass, so if a turtle goes the wrong way it will curl back around and start walking the right way," Mott said.
The tunnel, built with the assistance of a $50,000 grant, is being watched closely by other highway departments across Minnesota and the nation. The idea is to prevent car wrecks caused by people swerving to avoid turtles or slamming into cars that have suddenly stopped on the two-lane rural road for a crossing turtle.
