Brookfield Zoo's 1st Blanding's Turtles Released In DuPage County

DUPAGE COUNTY, IL — A group of baby Blanding's turtles hatched at Brookfield Zoo have been released in a DuPage County Forest preserve. The yearling turtles are part of an ongoing program to foster a population of the now-endangered turtles in DuPage County.

Since 2011, Brookfield Zoo has cared for Blanding's turtles that were born in DuPage County. The species can take up to 20 years to reproduce, so these are the first batch of hatchlings born at Brookfield Zoo.

"The Brookfield Zoo turtles being released this year represent our first captive-bred head-start yearlings. This is a milestone for the program because most of the captive-bred population are the offspring of deceased adult wild turtles. The offspring we're releasing now are returning genetic information back to the wild population that may have been lost more than 20 years ago," Dan Thompson, ecologist for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County said in a statement.

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County started its "head-start" program in 1996 to help Blanding's turtles reproduce safely without the threat of predators. The forest preserve district collects eggs from pregnant turtles and places them in facilities where they can hatch safely before releasing them into the wild.

More than 3,000 Blanding's turtles have been cared for and released since the program started.