Turtle centre still making a difference during pandemic
Five heads of lettuce each week. If this is something you have access to, maybe you can help the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. It’s just one of the items on their wish list. Oh, and it must be a variety other than iceberg.
The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre, located at 4-1434 Chemong Rd., and home to the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre, is presently closed to the public due to COVID-19 restrictions. But the hospital is open, injured turtles are still being accepted and fieldwork continues. So that means the centre still has needs and therefore items on their wish list. Perhaps you can help with a donation.
Why help? According to the OTCC website, globally, turtles are among the world’s most endangered vertebrates. There are more than 300 species worldwide, and shockingly, about half of these are threatened with extinction.
Population declines are due to habitat loss and fragmentation, road mortality, poaching for the pet and food trades, boating mortalities and fishing bycatch, and predation of eggs by predators inadvertently supported by human populations, such as raccoons.
Besides the lettuce, the turtle hospital and office have on their wish list the following items: Rubbermaid bins (50 L), paper towels; hand sanitizer; examination gloves (Kimberly Clark green only that are recycled); Lepage Ultra-gel superglue; JP Weld epoxy or Lepage marine epoxy; white, waterproof, medical tape; coloured, electrical tape (not black), clear, heavy duty, extra strength garbage bags; CSA approved extension cords (not Dollar Store); scrub brushes with handles; AA and AAA batteries; industrial, 12outlet power bars; black, magenta, yellow, cyan printer ink (HP 952 or 952XL); 8 1/2-inch by 11-inch paper; copy paper; silver, gold and black sharpies; pens; No. 9 and No. 10 envelopes; and postage stamps.
The wish list also includes additional supplies for field work and equipment items.
Gift cards for Canadian Tire, Metro, Sobeys, Dollar Store, Staples and Home Hardware would also be appreciated. The centre also maintains an Amazon Wishlist. You can check it out from your own home, select some items to donate and have them delivered right to the Centre.
The OTCC is a registered charity whose goal is to protect and conserve Ontario’s native turtles and the habitat in which they live. They accomplish this by operating a turtle hospital that treats, rehabilitates, and releases injured turtles, by performing extensive research in the field to further conservation initiatives, and by running a comprehensive education and outreach program.
For a complete list of items on the wish list visit ontarioturtle.ca, click on the donate tab, then click on Donating equipment, supplies or skills. If you can help with any of the items on the list, contact them using the link provided.
TVA Tours
The first sessions of the Trent Valley Archives 2020 walking tours have already sold out, so more tours have been added to the schedule, including a new cemetery tour.
New dates for the Tragic Tales tour are Fridays, July 17 and 24 from 7 until 8:30 p.m. Additional times for the Ladies of Little Lake tour are July 19 and 26 from 2:30 p.m. until 4 p.m.
The new cemetery tour, Seats of the Mighty, happens July 10, 17 and 24 from 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m.
This tour features “the movers and shakers of early Peterborough history including Col McDonnell, George Hilliard and Charles A. Weller, all who have streets or buildings named for them.”
Due to COVID-19, safeguards will be in place. There will be screening prior to each tour with appropriate physical distancing maintained throughout each tour. You are encouraged to book with members of your circle and to wear a face mask. There is a limit of 10 persons, including the guide, for each tour.
Tickets cost $20 and are available on the TVA website trentvalleyarchives.com/events or by contacting Heather at 705745-4404 or emailing admin@trentvalleyarchives.com. Registration and payment in advance are required.