2026
Strengthening & preserving Canada’s native turtle population & their habitats
The Mission of the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (OTCC) is to strengthen and preserve Canada’s native turtle population and the habitats in which they live.
Our multi-pronged approach includes our: hospital and rehabilitation centre for injured turtles, hatchling rearing and release program, education and training programs designed for stakeholders in conservation and the community at large, ongoing field studies addressing species knowledge gaps and, use of data to contribute to the understanding of all turtle species and to global turtle conservation.
The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre has grown rapidly, and we are the only CVO (College of Veterinarians of Ontario) accredited, dedicated wild turtle hospital in Canada. The number of turtles admitted to our hospital annually started at 30-50 and in 2025, 2253 injured were admitted from across Ontario.
Many of the injured turtles are females with eggs. Approximately 9000 eggs were incubated in 2025 resulting in over 3500 hatchlings.
Turtles represent a significant biomass in our wetland ecosystems and play a vital role in keeping them healthy. Vibrant, functioning wetlands are not only essential for turtles, but they are also important to human health as these ecosystems act as the filtration system for much of the freshwater on our planet. In Canada all eight native freshwater turtle species are now listed as Species at Risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). With road mortality second only to habitat loss as a reason for population decline, the work we carry out in our hospital is vital.
The egg incubation and hatchling program saves these eggs that would otherwise have been lost and gives the hatchlings a ‘head start’ in life. These hatchlings are kept for varying amounts of time before being released back to the mother’s wetlands. This strategy increases the chance of survival of the hatchlings considerably. In addition, it helps to augment the population of the specific location, thus helping to mitigate turtle mortality.
