« Back to Agriculture's Toll on Wood Turtles
Agriculture, especially haying, is decimating wood turtles. They are all but invisible deep in the grass, and farmers have no choice but to plow, hay, etc when weather and time allows.
Biologist Mike Jones has documented population losses from 5% to 20% due to haying.
There is some evidence that sickle-bar mowers did less harm to wood turtles than the increasingly used rotary mowers.
Female #104 (shown here with a radio transmitter attached) was struck by a hay-mower on July 30, 2005. She died August 4th.
Warning: these photos may be upsetting to some.
