Comments on: turtle crossing controversy

by: KerrdeLune (Cate)

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 19:47:26 +0000

Bev, as usual we moved a lot of turtle mamas out of the roads in Lanark this year, but there were a lot of roadkills too, and finding them made me feel just sick every time. I’d see a turtle ahead in the road, screech to a halt and run over with my turtle stick, only to discover when I arrived that the turtle had already been squashed by a speeding motorist. Most of the time, the tragedy could have been averted.

by: Crystal Lake

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:35:01 +0000

Oh, man..you know, that road of death thing reminded me of a dead turtle I saw on my jog last year. The road runs right next to a swamp, and it was the biggest turtle I’ve seen in real life (not counting zoos). For about three or four days, it was out there like that with the intestines splayed out.

In my runs, it’s quite routine to see animals as roadkill even when the roads are little more than laneways. Mostly, they are small mammals like chipmunks and such..but occasionally there is a larger dead animal.

I’m just an animal lover in general, and whenever I see roadkill the first thought that crosses my mind is “Oh, poor [animal]”

I used to live around the Peterborough area and still visit from time to time and remember one turtle crossing. I’ve never heard any complaints that the turtle crossing was “confusing”.

If all of us don’t do a better job of taking care of nature, I doubt there will be much left in another decade or so.

I think it’s important that we take care of nature for posterity as well, but a better reason for conservation that will appeal to all people is the fact that we, too, are a part of the natural environment. You screw around with it too much, and, because the natural environment demands some form of balance, it will come right back to us to haunt us later.

by: bev

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:01:20 +0000

Michael - I think it’s good to try to address some of the controversies along with the nature notes. If all of us don’t do a better job of taking care of nature, I doubt there will be much left in another decade or so. I’m not too surprised to hear that about the council members. It’s an unfortunate fact that a large percentage of the people attracted to running for election in municipal politics have their own agendas to push.
Regarding my photos — Thanks! I use two different Nikons — the older CP4500, and the more recent CP8800. I use the CP4500 for spiders and smaller insects, and the CP8800 for somewhat larger insects — it can still do small ones too, but I can’t get in quite so close for interesting angles as I can with the older CP4500.

by: Michael

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:28:35 +0000

Thanks for blogging on this issue. I live in the county and talked to some of the current county council members as they tried to drum up votes during the last election. All touted grandiose economic development goals but not one could state a coherent, let alone principled, position on safe-guarding our natural environment.

Your photos are brilliant! What’s your set-up?

Cheers,

Michael

by: bev

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:37:07 +0000

Wayne - Thanks for signing the petition. It was nice to see the numbers shooting up yesterday - and lots of good comments being posted by those who have been signing. I very much agree that the council’s decision to remove the signs is a slap in the face to the kids who raised the money to put up the signs. In my opinion, the move is ignorant and disrespectful toward the citizens of the region. Glad to see that so many people have made a point of commenting on that. I’ll try to follow the situation and post something here later on.