Life in a pond or on a bank isn't easy for the endangered Pacific pond turtle, even if it is fully grown. San Diego Zoo Global and our partners—U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the San Diego Association of Governments—spent four years overseeing a conservation project to save the small, local freshwater turtles. First, eggs were collected, then carefully incubated and hatched at the San Diego Zoo. Hatchlings were nurtured and "headstarted" for a few years until they were large enough to fend for themselves. When you’re the size of a quarter at hatch, it's best to be at least the size of a muffin before release to the wild! Our next step was to attach tiny radio transmitters to their shells so researchers could keep tabs on them after release.

Then in September 2014, USGS staff found a severely injured male pond turtle they had radio-tagged and released in a different area from our release site—where it was probably attacked by a coyote—and brought him to the Zoo for life-saving measures. With the turtle's shell fractured in several places, medications were administered by our veterinary team and the fractures stabilized using parts of zip-ties and surgical glue, a novel technique. After five months, the turtle was healed and released back to the reserve. As it basks in the sun at the pond's edge, we hope this native turtle can better evade danger in the years to come.