Baby turtles found near Carter wetlands released back into the wild

SEVEN baby oblong turtles that captured the hearts of the Bayswater community were released back into the wild at the weekend.

In August, No Houses in Wetlands member Deborah Bowie found seven turtles that were only hours old in a pond near the Carter wetlands.

The Turtle Oblonga Rescue and Rehabilitation Network (TORRN) trained Ms Bowie on how to care for the turtles.

The public responded to a Facebook callout for turtle food and supplied mosquito larvae and bloodworms initially, before they progressed to eating feeder fish.

Ms Bowie and volunteers re-homed the two-month-old turtles at the weekend, after looking at sites from Maylands to Gobba Lake.

She said they did not put the creatures into the Carters wetland, as the future of the site was uncertain and bulldozer action had occurred on its fringe.

Ms Bowie said the chosen wetlands site was away from roads, had good signs of bird life and good vegetation coverage.

“I had mixed emotions (letting them go); not sure the turtles bonded to me, but I bonded to them,” she said.

The turtles weighed 6.5g to 7.5g when they arrived and now range from 14.4g to 23.2g; the larger turtles are likely to be females.

Ms Bowie said the turtles could live up to 60 to 80 years old and start breeding at age 20.