• Wayne's World: Fans say box turtles deserve respect, need protection

  • In Anne Allbright Smith's hands is a stunning box turtle whose blackish shell is a painting of yellow squiggles, whorls and dots.
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    "You're so pretty!" she tells this turtle found in a sloshy drainage ditch in Gardiner on a warm June day filled with buzzing cicadas.
    "I know this turtle," says Smith, who's a state-licensed amateur box turtle researcher and a passionate one, to boot, on raising public awareness about these reptiles.
    Meanwhile, the turtle's sticking its head out of its shell to get a good look at this retired teacher.
    "She's about ready to nest and lay eggs," says Smith.
    Which is a huge deal, Smith says, because box turtles are in trouble. They need loads of help.
    Listed as a "special concern" reptile on the state's endangered species list, box turtles look like they'd be well protected all by themselves. They can close their shells tight as a drum by pulling in a hinged piece of bone that's sort of a drawbridge.
    But that's not much good against motor traffic, lawn mowers and poachers breaking the law by grabbing turtles for pets.
    So the more that people know about box turtles the better, says Smith, who's gathered wildly eager box turtle research assistants.
    The team's stars are Diggy and Anzac, two tireless, smart, tough, but kind Australian cattle dogs whose genes harken to their rough-and-tumble days of nipping the heels of stubborn cattle in Australia.
    "They've got amazing noses," says Smith. "I could never find turtles in the tall grasses."
    She adds, "Teaching the dogs to find turtles took, like, two seconds because they are tracking dogs."
    Turtles became her passion nine years ago when she found out that she and husband Ray were having their home built in a kind of box turtle heaven.
    First, the builder got excited when he found a box turtle.
    Then, one day she was bird-watching at their 65-acre property in Gardiner nine years ago.
    "I stumbled," says the retired New York City third-grade teacher. "I thought it was a rock, but it was a box turtle. And then we found another box turtle in the driveway, and that sort of hooked me."
    Smith has become an expert on all things box turtle and now calls herself simply a trained observer (a very thorough one).
    Ask her about all the work tracking turtles, keeping data, taking photos, answering all sorts of questions, and she simply says, "What fun!"
    And she says box turtle life isn't what you think.
    They do get around.
    For instance, Smith's first study turtle, a female, was seen one day in the middle of her driveway.
    Then the turtle walked two-thirds of a mile away, laid her eggs next to someone's mailbox and plodded back to Smith's place, spending the winter under a brush pile.
    You can tell, there's lots going on in the box turtle world.
    Any box turtle questions?
    One she always gets is: How old do they get?
    They can live to be 100.
    So they can outlive their researchers? "You bet."
    Here's a P.S. from her. Don't miss the next Wallkill Valley Land Trust Turtle Day at Smith's place. It's May 10, 2014.
    Have a turtle question? Reach Smith at boxturtlesny.com.
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