Perth Voice Interactive

IF our recent reports on Hyde Park’s troubled turtle population got you wanting to do more for the scaley pond puppies, Western Sydney uni scientists are asking for your help to keep them safe.

November is turtle month and it’s a dangerous time for the shelled shufflers because they leave the safety of the water to nest. WS uni has launched a mobile app called TurtleSAT which you can use to log sightings of turtles (dead or alive).

That data can then let them know where best to install crossing signs.

WS uni’s Ricky Spencer says “As a result of Turtle Month last year, we had more than 1000 recordings on TurtleSAT, which resulted in the construction of road signs to warn drivers of areas where turtles are crossing.”

Dr Spencer says time is running out for Australia’s turtles: The Bellinger River snapping turtle species is more than two million years old. It was in healthy numbers in January but by March was close to extinct.

But he says there’s still hope and if enough people get on board with TurtleSAT, “we can take measures to protect the fragile populations still left, and help the animals recover”.

Last year Jon Sanders Drive was a Death Valley for turtles being flattened by cars, with one resident finding five dead ‘uns before the breeding season had even fully started.

TurtleSAT is on the appstore now. We took it for a test run and so far there are only a few sightings logged in Perth (near Herdsman Lake), compared to huge takeup in other states. Victoria and NSW have nearly 1500 sightings between their rivers, and South Australia near 500. We have four.

by DAVID BELL