Manitoulin Island turtle deaths worry researchers

Researchers at Laurentian University in Sudbury say they are stumped in the case of more than 50 dead turtles found on Manitoulin Island.

The turtles were found by a Ministry of Natural Resources scientist earlier this yearand, so far, the cause of death is unknown.

A Laurentian herpetologist a researcher who studies amphibians and reptiles is working on the investigation.

At least in Canada, as far as I know, nobody has ever seen such a large number of turtles killed without an obvious reason, Jacqueline Litzgus said.

She said two full boxes of carcasses have been catalogued and the remains are in plastic bags. The only thing left of the turtles are their shells.

An ecology graduate student who visited the site said so many dead adult turtles is bad news for the species.

If you imagine a baby turtle, its shell is still soft. Anything can eat it. Its the chicken McNugget of the wild, James Baxter-Gilbert said.

Once one actually reaches an adult size, they need to live that long to put out so many babies every year.

Hard to comprehend

Litzgus said the mysterious cause of the turtles demise could be there arenew predators or a rare type of disease.

Whatever the cause, Litzgus said shes worried.

When you find a couple of dead turtles, its really disturbing, she explained. But when you find this many dead ones, it becomes hard to comprehend.

The shells will be studied at Laurentian over the coming months.

Researchers say they hope to have some answers before the end of the current turtle hibernation season.