This Zoo Helps Protect Baby Turtles, Then Sends Them on Their Way

On Tuesday afternoon at Freshkills Park on Staten Island, zoo staff and partners released 47 diamondback terrapin hatchlings—pewter-colored, about Oreo-size—after relocating eggs from threatened nests. The Staten Island Terrapin Project, led by the Staten Island Zoo with help from the 2,200-acre preserve, is designed to counter decades-long declines as terrapins face hunting, habitat loss, fishing and pollution, plus heavy nest predation. Researchers near Jamaica Bay have reported a 70% population drop over 30 years. Eggs hatched in late August, and on Tuesday students from St. Clare School watched the first hatchlings enter the marsh.