More than 150 Northern red-bellied cooters -- endangered turtles that have spent the last several months attending their own version of a Head Start program -- will be set free Monday in Pocksha and Great Quittacas ponds on the Lakeville-Middleborough line.
State wildlife officials last fall collected the tiny hatchlings, then just about the size of a quarter, from nests along bogs and lakes in Plymouth and Carver . If the turtles had remained in the wild for a winter of hibernation, they would have grown very little and their chances of survival would have been diminished.
Instead, the turtles got the spa treatment. They were placed in science facilities and high schools around the state where they spent nine months basking in 82-degree aquarium environments, with ultra violet lighting to strengthen their shells and unlimited supplies of food to boost their growth.
When the turtles scramble down the beach and into the water next week, they will be the size of an average 5 -year-old red-belly that grew up in the wild, with shells from 4 to 7 inches long. Some will weigh in at 50 times their arrival weight.
That head start should make their chances of survival much greater, say officials at the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
``It would take the equivalent of four or five summers to get to the size these turtles reached in just seven months," said John Crane , a Plymouth environmental consultant who has for several years helped with the MassWildlife Head Start effort. ``The program has given them a little extra oomph ."
The public is encouraged to help unload the turtles, said MassWildlife's Marion Larson , who will drive the truck full of turtles from the agency's Westborough headquarters to the release site off Long Point Road on Monday. The event is set for 11 a.m. at the causeway between the two ponds.
Once the turtles are freed, ``You look out and see 20 or 30 little turtle heads sticking up out of the water, like they're saying `Hey, this is a whole lot bigger than where I've been,' " she said.
Northern red-bellied cooters, named for the brilliant color of their under-shells, are Massachusetts' second largest freshwater turtle, behind the snapper. In New England, they are found only in the Plymouth County region, isolated from populations in the mid-Atlantic states. They can reach 15 inches in shell length, weigh as much as 10 pounds, and live 50 to 60 years .
But because of the dangers they face in the wild, most red-bellied cooters never reach maturity. They may be devoured while still in the nest by scavenging raccoons and skunks. And once hatched, they are vulnerable to a range of predators, including fish, frogs, and even wading birds.
The number of red-bellies in the state dwindled to about 300 in the early 1980s , and they were placed on both the state and federal endangered species lists. Concern over the species prompted MassWildlife to initiate the Head Start program in the mid-1980s, keeping hatchlings in environments with optimal living conditions for their first several months. More than 2,000 turtles have gone through the program.
Crane -- who calls himself the ``Turtle Hunter" -- lives on one of Plymouth's many ponds and for several years has helped provide hatchlings for the program. He marks the locations of the nests and protects as many as he can from scavengers by placing wire baskets over them.
When the turtles hatch in early fall, Crane selects about 150 for the MassWildlife program and releases the rest directly into the ponds and bogs near their nests.
``I try to get the top of the line specimens for the Head Start program," Crane said. ``The best of the best."
The South Shore Science Center in Norwell cares for some of the turtles. Karen Kurkoski , the center's naturalist and animal curator, said the turtles are fed mainly lettuce -- green leaf and romaine -- along with the occasional protein stick. She records their weights and shell measurements every couple of weeks and reports results to MassWildlife.
``They're very healthy. . . . We took six turtles, and they have all survived," she said. Kurkoski said one of the turtles measured 34 millimeters when it arrived at the center in the fall, and by the beginning of May it had grown to 134 millimeters. ``What astounds anyone who comes in is how much they have grown," Kurkoski said.
Tomorrow all the satellite spa facilities will bring their turtles to MassWildlife's Westborough facility. There the turtles will be measured and weighed and their shells notched to identify them. Tom French , assistant director of MassWildlife's Endangered Species Program and founder of turtle Head Start, said little monitoring of the chosen turtles has been done to date, although ``we've had up to three Head Start turtles seen laying eggs." Because the females don't breed until they are 15 or 17 years old, that shows the wildlife specialists the turtles have survived at least that long.
The survival rate for those that spend nine months in turtle Head Start is about 95 percent, French said, while ``out of 200 eggs laid in the wild, you might get one turtle that grows large enough to make it."
Larson said MassWildlife is also looking for individuals or lake associations willing to create some attractive nesting areas for the Northern red-bellied cooters, who choose sandy and open stretches of shore rather than heavily treed areas. That work would have to be done under the supervision of a community's conservation commission, Larson said.
French said residents who would like to see a Northern red-bellied cooter, but can't make it to Monday's release, can probably catch a glimpse of one in East Head Pond in Plymouth, adjacent to the Myles Standish Forest headquarters. He advises bringing binoculars or going out in a canoe.
Crane warned the public against taking any home. Because they are classified as endangered, it could mean a stiff fine or even imprisonment.
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