Newt the Dog Saves Toads, Turtles

Life is hard for a turtle in Rhode Island these days.

"We see a lot of mortality in turtles this time of year and sadly, it's all female turtles carrying the next generation and now sadly we have a poaching crisis,” Lou Perrotti, director of conservation programs at Roger Williams Park Zoo, told NBC affiliate WJAR.

Besides the poaching, turtles are at risk because of habitat loss and the perils of crossing the road.

To address the problem, the zoo has engaged the services of a 1-year-old fox red Labrador retriever named Newt to help find turtles in the quasi-wild. Newt has been trained to find threatened and vulnerable species, such as the Eastern box and spotted turtles. He sniffs out an area, locates a turtle, then lays down next to it. A human will then record the species info and  give the reptile assistance if necessary.

“He was originally trained to find different species of toad, and so we got started working on the turtles in the fall. He had a rough start with it, but we're really proud of him now because once we got into spring and they were moving around again he was able to quickly pick it up,” said Julia Sirois, Newt’s handler.

Newt’s training was straightforward: find a turtle, get a ball. “He can get into the areas where we can't as people. I'm not going to crawl through thorn bushes, but the dog doesn't care because if he finds a turtle, he gets his ball. And at the end of the day, it's all he wants,” said Sirois.

Newt is into the third week of a six-week study to see if dogs can aid in turtle conservation research. So far so good.

Photo credit: WJAR