Do not touch the turtles!
That's the message Arizona Game and Fish officials want nature enthusiasts to remember.
The department recently has experienced an increase in calls from people who have found ornate box turtles in the wild and taken them home.
Not only is it illegal to take a wild-caught ornate box turtle home, it can damage the populations at large, according to Mark Hart, a Game and Fish spokesman.
Once a turtle has been captured, it can never be returned to the wild. Removing it from its habitat "can severely affect local populations because turtles grow and reproduce slowly," Hart said in a news release.
There is only one reason someone should pick up a turtle in the wild - if it is in harm's way while it tries to cross a road. In that case, Game and Fish officials recommend gently lifting the turtle just inches from the ground and walking it across the road in the direction it was headed.
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Game and Fish also suggests:
• Joining Ornate Box Turtle Watch and helping Game and Fish monitor the species. Go to www.azgfd.gov/w_c/boxturtlewatch.shtml
• Donating to the Sponsor-a-Turtle Program to help Game and Fish biologists pay for tracking equipment, including radio-telemetry tags, GPS units and hoop traps, to survey and monitor turtle populations statewide. Go to www.azgfd.gov/w_c/documents/Sponsor-A-TurtleProgrambrochureFinal.pdf
• Practicing responsible off-road driving to minimize the destruction of ornate box turtles' habitat.
• Calling Game and Fish at 628-5376 if someone has a captive ornate box turtle from Arizona that they can no longer keep.
