Report a turtle in Quebec

It's hibernation time: the turtles finally take refuge at the bottom of lakes, marshes, ponds and streams. This protects them from the winter cold and allows them to avoid sub-freezing temperatures.

Injured turtle? Don't leave it in the wild! Stay put and call us immediately at 1-450-622-1020 ext. 286. We'll tell you how to help!

Donate for the protection of turtles

Have you seen a live, wounded or dead turtle? Swipe the slider or use the arrows!

Injured turtle? Don't leave it in the wild! Stay put and call us immediately at 1-450-622-1020 ext. 286. We'll tell you how to help!

Carapace Project Turtle Sighting Form

Active season: Since April 1st 2024, 1,285 forms have been submitted to Carapace.

Carapace is now on iNaturalist! For those who prefer using this application to submit their sighting, click here.

This field is hidden when viewing the form
Unique ID
Name*
First Last name
Your e-mail address*
Your phone number (NOTE : Carapace or its partners will only contact you if we need additional details about your sighting)**
Sighting date*

Year
Month
Day
Town of sighting*
Region of sighting*
LOCATION: Please select only one of the following four options. Please do not alter the data autogenerated by the form after you have filled in the location.
MAPPING - OPTION 1: Drag the marker to your sighting's location (move the marker if the map is gray)
MAPPING - OPTION 2: Enter the precise address of the sighting, including the street number and the name of the municipality
This field is hidden when viewing the form
Geocoder
MAPPING - OPTION 3: Click on the button below to report your current position if you are at a sighting's location (smartphone localization services must be activated)
MAPPING - OPTION 4: Type in your coordinates in decimal degrees (ie: 45.622821 / -75.763841)* The form autogenerates coordinates when you use options 1, 2 or 3. Please do not delete or modify the autogenerated coordinates.*
Number of turtles*
To report more than one turtle, they must be observed on the same date and at the same location (within a radius of 50 meters). If not, please complete an additional form.
Where was the turtle?*
Turtle's status*
Please stay where you are and call 1‐450‐622‐1020 poste 286 !
Turtle's species*
Have you observed evidence of nesting? (presence of eggs, digging to lay eggs, burying eggs, group of hatchlings)*
Photos of the turtle and the habitat on each side of the road*
Drop files here or

Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, Max. file size: 15 MB.
A photo is required. Please read the FAQ to understand why.
Photo usage
- I authorize Carapace to use my turtle pictures for awareness or education purposes.
Additional information
Please describe the habitat on both sides of the road, any apparent injuries or possible cause of death, the volume and speed of ongoing traffic and any other detail that you consider relevant.
Is your sighting reported as part of a specific campaign coordinated by a Carapace partner organization?*
Subscribe to the Carapace newsletter
- I'd like to receive news or results from Carapace by email (2 or 3 times per year).
- I’m already registered to the newsletter.
Preferred language*
- French
- English
Privacy Policy*
- I have read and accepted Carapace's Privacy Policy.
Consult Carapace's Privacy Policy.

Have you seen a turtle in Quebec? The Carapace Project wants to know about it!

It’s not unusual to see turtles leave the relative safety of wetlands to travel on land. During their active season, from May to October, turtles are on the move to search for food, find a new habitat, look for a mate, or lay eggs. Unfortunately, traveling on land and crossing roads has its share of risk for turtles because it makes them vulnerable to collisions or disturbance.

This is why the Carapace team needs your help. If you spot a turtle in Quebec, let us know by filling out the form on this website.

Be on the lookout especially in June! Female turtles travel more frequently to find a good spot to lay their eggs. You might see them digging on road shoulders made of sand or gravel, a behavior that often costs them their lives.

Turtles of Quebec

Snapping turtle

Photo: NCC
Painted turtle

Photo: NCC

Musk turtle

Photo: NCC
Blanding’s turtle

Photo: Simon Pelletier

Map turtle

Photo: Simon Pelletier
Wood turtle

Photo: Frédérick Lelièvre

Spiny Softshell turtle

Photo: Lyne Bouthillier
Spotted turtle

Photo: Daniel Brunton

What to do if you see a turtle on the road

How to report your observation

Why should you help to protect turtles?

Before helping a turtle at risk of being struck by vehicles

Consider your own safety first! Consult our road safety measures.
Reduce your speed and make every effort to avoid it if it’s on the roadside shoulder.
Notify other drivers of its presence to help them avoid it.
Observe it from afar so as to not frighten it, and wait for it to finish crossing the road.
In case of immediate danger, help the turtle cross the road in the direction in which it is already headed.
If you need to pick it up, never hold it by its tail! Instead grab the shell near the back with both hands while staying close to the ground, or push the turtle very gently across the road with an object.
Do not move it to a different spot!
Do not put it back in the water!
Be careful; it can bite.
For an emergency concerning the survival of an injured turtle, please contact the Eco-Nature rehabilitation center.

Subscribe to the Carapace newsletter

Newsletter archive

2023/05/25 - Carapace Newsletter - Spring 2023
2023/02/27 - Carapace Newsletter - Winter 2023
2022/04/13 - Carapace Newsletter - Spring 2022
2021/07/09 - Carapace Newsletter - Summer 2021
2020/05/27 - Carapace Newsletter - Spring 2020
2019/06/22 - Carapace Newsletter - Summer 2019
2019/03/21 - Carapace Newsletter - Spring 2019
2018/02/06 - Carapace Newsletter - Spring 2018

Contact us

Reach out to us if you have questions or concerns! Please read our FAQ before sending us an email. You can contact us at carapace@natureconservancy.ca.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Click on the items below to find answers to common questions.

Turtles on roads

Dead or injured turtle

Report your dead turtle observations on our Carapace sighting form. We document turtle mortality.

Carapace is a virtual data collection platform. We’re not a turtle rehabilitation center and do not have the expertise to treat injured turtles. However, here are some useful tips if you find a turtle injured that was hit by a car:

Do not rinse it or put it in water.
Do not feed it.
Do not turn it on its back, this might injure it further!
Place the turtle in a well ventilated container in a cool dark place, away from predators, insects, and sun.
Contact an expert that can assess the situation and guide you.
Report your observation on our sighting form. We document injured turtles occurrences.

If you are unable to quickly contact an expert, try to keep the turtle hydrated by offering a bowl of water or by trickling water in front of its beak. Our list is updated whenever an expert agrees to have their contact information published.

Note: Under Quebec’s Act Respecting the Conservation and Development of Wildlife, in order to rehabilitate any wildlife species, the individual must be a veterinarian or possess a licence for a wildlife rehabilitation centre, a zoological garden, or a wildlife observation centre. These individuals must take all possible steps to avoid domestication and release the animal in nature if it is able to survive.

Turtle relocation

Do not move a turtle to a different area. Turtles know where they are going. By moving a turtle to a different site not only it can be an unsuitable habitat but you compromise its survival by making it travel a longer distance to come back to where it was initially going. You are also increasing the risk or propagating diseases to other species.

If the turtle is in a location that presents an imminent danger or a high risk of mortality, such as an industrial site, a housing development where large machinery is being used, a large parking lot with moving cars, etc. you can move it or help it to move in a natural habitat located close by.

Before touching a turtle refer to the section “Before helping a turtle at risk of being struck by vehicles” as well as our video.

Nesting and eggs: how to help

During nesting, or egg laying, females mainly look for sites with sandy, earthy or gravelly soil to lay their eggs. Shoulders of unpaved roads often attract females for egg laying. However, these areas are unsafe for both the eggs and the turtles, as nests can be compacted by cars, eggs destroyed and females crushed. Be vigilant along roadsides!

Sometimes you may find eggshells scattered on the ground surrounding a turtle nest. These eggs have been targeted by predators, such as raccoons, foxes and skunks. Although sad to see, egg predation is part of the turtle's life cycle and biology. Turtles have a low egg survival rate and late sexual maturity. The real problem, though, comes from human-induced mortality that disrupts the life cycle of turtles. Studies show that if a two to three per cent rate of road fatality is added annually to current environmental pressures, a long-term population decline of most turtle species is possible. To prevent a decline, the main focus should be on protecting adult turtles and reducing the risk of road collisions.

Never disturb, touch or move a turtle or its eggs! If you want to protect a nest from predators on your property, contact an expert in your region or check out the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s info sheet to build a nest protector. Note that the document indicates to leave the protector in place until late October, however, if you are not able to regularly monitor the hatching, it is best to remove the protector at the end of July.

Habitat management and road crossing signs

If you wish to manage a habitat to protect turtles, please contact an expert in your region area who will be able to help or give you advice.

Carapace does not sell turtle crossing signs for the time being, but you can find turtle crossing signs sold online by companies in Quebec.

Feel free to share the Carapace tool by publishing its page on social media. The success of this platform depends on the users who know it and use it. You can also make a donation to help manage the platform and protect turtles.

Note: The Carapace platform is managed by only one person in Gatineau. It is therefore impossible for us to get involved locally in all regions of Quebec.

Illegal behavior or poaching

Giving away an exotic or pet turtle (including red-eared sliders)

Pet store turtles, such as red-eared slider and Eastern box turtle, are exotic species that come from breeding farms in the southern United States or countries with warm climates. Pet store turtles should never be released into the wild because they are non-native and can threaten the survival of our Quebec turtles (Éco-Nature, 2013).

Anyone owning an exotic turtle who wishes to dispose of it should contact a pet store, veterinarian or local SPCA. Some experts on our list can also take care of red-eared sliders. Do not contact us to give away a turtle, we are not equipped to take care of them.

Mandatory photo on Carapace

Nowadays, smartphones and digital devices are part of the daily lives of most people, so we have chosen to make that very important piece of information mandatory.

The photo allows us to confirm the turtle species, to validate the information provided in the sighting forms, and thus better document the road mortality threat for each species. Accurate data will also help select priority actions in an area since some species are more threatened than others.

If you are unable to stop safely to take the photo, but are able to locate the exact location of the turtle, you can complete the report form by attaching a text file with the title "No photo". If you're using a smartphone or tablet, you can take a picture of a note that says "No picture". Be sure to provide detailed explanations in the comment box of the form to help us better process your data.

Sighting form: issues and tips

If you are unable to submit your form, make sure you have completed all required fields. When mandatory fields are not filled in, the following message appears on the screen "There was a problem with your submission. Errors have been highlighted below.”, and the fields are displayed in orange directly in the form. If you are missing a photo, please refer to the explanations under Mandatory Photo on Carapace.

If your notice and issue with the website, contact us.

Here are some tips on entering information on the carapace.ca form:

Tip #1: Be sure to read each drop-down menu carefully before selecting the correct option.

Tip #2: If you see two turtles in the same location, but they are different species or in different condition, please submit two separate forms — one for each turtle.

Tip #3: Before submitting your form, check the positioning of your observation on the Google map. If necessary, move the red pointer to show the correct location of your observation.

Tip # 4: Location options 1, 2 and 3 automatically generate latitude and longitude in the formats 45.123456 and -75.123456. These numbers allow us to produce maps. Please do not delete these numbers.

Tip #5: If you are using location option 3 — street address — be sure to include the full address, including municipality and province. Do not enter your own residential address unless the turtle is on your property.

Unavailable injured turtle experts or contact in my area

We obtained the consent of all the partners before posting contact information on the platform. If there is no contact information for your area, it is because we have not been able to find any or have not obtained permission from an expert.

If you know of veterinarians, reptile experts, conservation organizations or anyone with wildlife rehabilitation permits, do not hesitate to tell them about Carapace. They can contact us to show their interest in working together to protect turtles.

Carapace is continually and actively looking for people who can take care of injured turtles. If you have the expertise, resources and legal authorizations to work with wildlife species, please contact us.

Learn more about Carapace

The Carapace project is managed by a Gatineau-based turtle enthusiast as part of her various activities with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Consultants, interns and partners also provide some help to validate and analyze the data.

The information received in the sighting forms is autogenerated in a database that is shared annually with experts from the Quebec Turtle Recovery Team and partners who can undertake actions to protect turtles.

Carapace will provide a better understanding of the threat of road mortality with the aim of taking action to help turtle populations cope better with the anticipated threats of climate change such as the competition of exotic species, the arrival of pests or diseases, and extreme weather events that can disrupt habitats.

Carapace did not respond to my email/comment

Turtle protection

Turtles may take up to 25 years before reproducing, and their egg survival rate is very low (approximately 2 eggs out of 100 become adult turtles). To maintain their numbers within a population, turtles therefore count on the survival of the adults, especially the females.

However, human activities in the habitat bring many threats and increase adult mortality rates, which can have serious consequences on a population. For example, scientists have determined that an increase of more than 5 % in annual mortality for the Wood and Blanding’s turtles could lead to the decline of a population.

Every effort counts to protect our turtle populations!

Do not hesitate to raise awareness about Carapace by sharing it on social networks. The success of this platform depends on users who know about it and use it. You can also make a donation to help manage the platform and protect turtles.

Importance of turtles in an ecosystem

All species are important within an ecosystem. Turtles have a role both as predator and a prey. They help clean up ponds or lakes by eating plants, insects, and dead fish while representing a food source for other animals. They also help to disperse other life forms by travelling from wetlands to wetlands.

Removing any species from its ecosystem can drastically affect the balance by altering other organisms. As humans, we don’t necessarily see the impact of each species on our well-being, though a slight change may have a trickle effect which can eventually have consequences on our lives. Think of an ecosystem as an airplane from which you remove nuts and bolts here and there. At one point don’t you think the plane would crash?

Quebec turtles species identification

Nautical activities safety measures

Did you know that some nautical activities can pose a threat to Québec’s freshwater turtles?

They need your help! Thank you for helping to protect them by adopting these best practices.

To lower the risk of collision and disturbance by boaters

Reduce your speed in bays and shallow areas.
Avoid driving through aquatic grass beds and near sun-basking areas.
Minimize disturbance on beaches in June by grouping your activities closer together.
Avoid approaching turtles, especially when they are laying eggs.

For fishermen

Fish with barbless hooks.
Stop fishing if you see a turtle swimming in the area.
Don’t cut your line if you catch a turtle.
Avoid reeling the turtle in if possible and try to catch it in your net instead.
Use pliers to retrieve the hook, and be careful not to get bitten, especially with snapping turtles.

Injured turtle

If you find an injured turtle or can’t remove your hook, go to Carapace.ca to contact a turtle rehabilitation centre.

Report your sighting with a photo and the precise location of the turtle on the Carapace.ca platform, and select the "Nautical" campaign.

Carapace Taxi

In response to the growing demand to care for injured turtles, Éco-Nature created the Centre de réhabilitation pour les tortues du Québec (CRTQ) in 2016. With the help of veterinarians, volunteers, and donations, the CRTQ's mission is to reduce native turtle mortality in local populations by providing care for injured, sick, or illegally kept native turtles so they can return to their natural environment.

Thanks to the emergency number posted on the Carapace platform, many injured turtles can be treated by the CRTQ. However, in more than one case out of ten, injured turtles are left in the wild by observers when care would have been desirable. Moreover, although Éco-Nature staff can transport many turtles, the organization does not have the capacity or financial resources to rapidly transport all injured turtles in Quebec to a care center. While waiting for transport, injured specimens are sometimes kept in people's homes for more than 48 hours before being treated. These delays represent an animal welfare issue and increase the risk of mortality. Fortunately, some citizens are willing to provide their own transport, while others agree to take on part of the journey.

If you'd like to volunteer to help transport injured turtles and have access to a vehicle, you can sign up now for the Taxi Carapace initiative by filling up the following form:

REGISTRATION LINK

All Taxi Carapace volunteers will receive a kit containing a sticker for their vehicle, a pin to put on the garment of their choice, and a list of best practices for the safe transport of turtles.

Did you know that some nautical activities can pose a threat to Québec’s freshwater turtles?

They need your help! Thank you for helping to protect them by adopting these best practices.

To lower the risk of collision and disturbance by boaters:

Reduce your speed in bays and shallow areas.

Avoid driving through aquatic grass beds and near sun-basking areas.

Minimize disturbance on beaches in June by grouping your activities closer together.

Avoid approaching turtles, especially when they are laying eggs.

For fishermen:

Fish with barbless hooks.

Stop fishing if you see a turtle swimming in the area.

Don’t cut your line if you catch a turtle.

Avoid reeling the turtle in if possible and try to catch it in your net instead.

Use pliers to retrieve the hook, and be careful not to get bitten, especially with snapping turtles.

Injured turtle

If you find an injured turtle or can’t remove your hook, go to Carapace.ca and contact a turtle rehabilitation centre.

Report your sighting with a photo and the precise location of the turtle on the Carapace.ca platform, selecting the nautical campaign.

Experts for injured turtles

Injured turtles in Quebec

Eco-Nature Rehabilitation Centre
1-450-622-1020 ext. 286 (10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
sostortues@eco-nature.ca

Injured turtles in Ontario

Exotic turtles

Contacts for information

Bas-Saint-Laurent

Capitale-Nationale (Québec City)

Centre-du-Québec

Chaudière-Appalaches

Greater Montréal

Gaspésie & Îles-de-la-Madeleine

Lanaudière

Laurentides

Mauricie

Montérégie & Eastern Townships

Corridor appalachien - MRC Haute-Yamaska, Brome-Missisquoi, Memphrémagog
Clément Robidoux
tortue@corridorappalachien.ca
450-297-1145

Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs – Eastern Townships
Marie-Josée Goulet
819-820-3883 poste 230

Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs – Montérégie

Lyne Bouthillier
450-928-7608 ext. 700149
Lyne.bouthillier@mffp.gouv.qc.ca

Nathalie Tessier
450-928-7608 ext. 310
nathalie.tessier@mffp.gouv.qc.ca

Nature-Action Québec - Corridor vert de Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Geneviève Gervais
corridorvert@nature-action.qc.ca
450-536-0422 ext. 422

Nature Conservancy of Canada – Eastern Townships
Madelaine Proulx
Madelaine.Proulx@conservationdelanature.ca

Nature Conservancy of Canada - Montérégie
Chantal Cloutier
chantal.cloutier@conservationdelanature.ca

Zoo de Granby - Lac Champlain, Cantons de l'Est
Patrick Paré
ppare@zoodegranby.com

Outaouais