Celebrating Bog Turtles During Wild Turtle Week
Help bog turtles by reporting illegal poaching
Happy Wild Turtle Week, everyone! While folks in our field love to celebrate turtles every day, Wild Turtle Week gives us an opportunity to bring extra attention to turtles and our conservation efforts on their behalf.
Wild Turtle Week was created in 2022 by the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) in partnership with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Last year, #WildTurtleWeek did a tremendous job of raising awareness on many social media platforms about the importance of these unique species and their ecosystems, and the ongoing threats that they face all across the globe.
For the 2023 Wild Turtle Week, which began on May 22 and runs through this week, the daily themes are:
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Monday, May 22: Turtley Awesome: Why turtles are special
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Tuesday, May 23: Turtles Need Our Help: Threats turtles face
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Wednesday, May 24: Every Turtle Counts: Turtle populations can’t afford extra losses
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Thursday, May 25: Turtle Power: Turtles play important roles in their ecosystems
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Friday, May 26: Be a Good Turtle Neighbor: Everyone can play a role in helping turtles
The partners have put together a really spectacular toolkit that includes tons of educational content for students, social media kits in English and Spanish, infographics, free photo and video resources, and even some merchandise so that you can show off your turtle pride while helping to support important conservation efforts.
The organizers of Wild Turtle Week have made sure that bog turtles get plenty of time in the spotlight by sharing tons of great photo imagery, featuring them in infographics about illegal collection of wildlife turtles, and highlighting fun facts about their ecology, evolution, and conservation status in suggested social media posts. They’ve also shared some great stories about conservation efforts underway for bog turtles across different parts of their range. That’s because celebrating bog turtles also means celebrating all the dedicated researchers and conservation professionals who are working every day to protect their habitat and restore their populations. So Happy #WildTurtleWeek to all of you and thank you for all that you do!
