We're back to Spring & Summer hours here at the OTCC!
🏥Our Turtle Hospital is open daily from 8:00am to 8:00pm.
🐢Our Education Centre is open from 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday - Saturday, and 10:00am to 2:00pm on Sunday.
📍Location: 2785 Television Road, Peterborough, ON, K9L 1E9.
Come visit and look out for turtles on the move! If you find an injured turtle, please call our hotline at 705-741-5000, option 9.
Injured turtle? Call 705-741-5000.
We intake turtles from all across Ontario.
Here are some steps to take when you find an injured turtle!
- Get the turtle into your vehicle or to a safe space.
- Note the exact location you found the turtle.
- Give us a call at 705-741-5000.
- Put it into a dry box or bin - do not give the turtle food, water, or treatment in any way. Keep them at room temperature.
- Wait for us to give you further instructions or call you back.
- Drive the turtle to the centre or a first responder clinic close to you. Or wait patiently as we arrange for a volunteer driver to get the turtle from you. You must have the turtle in your possession for us to send a volunteer Turtle Taxi driver
May long weekend is our busiest weekend of the year. You may have to wait longer than usual to hear from us or have a turtle picked up, but as long as they are safe and secure with you - that is much better than them being out on the road getting hit again and suffering further. Thank you all for being on the lookout and stay safe!
Watch out for turtles while traveling this May long weekend and throughout the spring and summer seasons! Turtles will be on the move to nesting locations and are at risk of being hit on roads. Slow down in wetland areas and keep lots of distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you.
⚠️If you find a healthy turtle crossing the road and it is safe to do so, help them cross in the direction they are heading.
⚠️If you find an injured turtle anywhere in Ontario follow these simple steps: contain the turtle if it's safe for you to do so, make note of exactly where you found it, and call us at 705-741-5000 (option 9). We'll walk you through what to do, and make arrangements to get the turtle to our center. If you find an injured turtle outside of our operating hours, please keep it somewhere safe until we can get back to you.
⚠️If you find a turtle that is NOT in danger, watch them from a distance so you do not disturb their natural behaviour.
Have a happy and turtley May long weekend! 🐢
It's the FINAL WEEK of our 🐢2026 Silent Auction🐢! We have *15* stunning new items added. This week, we have a bit of everything...INCLUDING a kitchen sink 😆
This week's items range from crochet, photography, paintings of turtles, a painting BY a turtle, to a full-sized chair hand-crafted of alder wood, and yes, a stainless-steel kitchen sink!
Items are available for viewing in person at our gift shop. Bid online now at /otcc! This week's auction ends Monday May 18 at 7:00pm!
All artwork has been generously donated, and all proceeds support OTCC's critical conservation work. If you have artwork or items you'd like to donate for our next auction, reach out to [email protected].
🎨 SILENT AUCTION 🎨bidding ends TODAY at 7pm! Check out all the stunning pieces up for auction this week, and place your bids online now. 🐢
These items were donated by generous artists, and all proceeds support the turtles!
^ Link in bio ^ ontarioturtle.ca/auction
Our busy season is starting and we are in need of items to help with the arrival of our new patient turtles! We are looking for:
- Clipboards (any type - these are what we use to keep all the turtle's information and medical notes in place)
- Large bins for our Snapping turtle patients, we specifically need these bins:
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/rubbermaid-roughneck-jumbo-storage-box-with-lid-189-l-grey-blue-0423656p.html
Dimensions (Height 17.87 in, Depth 43.00 in, Width 21.25 in)
If you are able to donate any of these items, please email [email protected]
Thank you so much! 🐢
WEEK TWO is NOW LIVE...Our 🐢2026 Silent Auction🐢 is back, with stunning new items added! Up for bids this week is a variety of artwork featuring turtles and nature. Items are available for viewing in person at our gift shop. Bid online now at /otcc! This week's auction ends Thurs May 7 at 7:00pm!
All artwork has been generously donated by the artists, and all proceeds support OTCC's critical conservation work. If you have artwork or items you'd like to donate for our next auction, reach out to [email protected].
Stay tuned, there will be more items listed next week!
Looking back on #VolunteerAppreciationWeek, we would like to extend a BIG thank you to everyone who has volunteered in any aspect at the OTCC. From education and outreach, to building nest protectors, planting trees, gardening, and lending time for maintenance (plus so much more!), we truly couldn't do it without the incredible individuals who support our mission! 💚
Did you know we have a turtle physiotherapy program? 🐢💚
For some of our injured turtles, recovery means learning how to walk and swim all over again. Physiotherapy plays a vital role in helping these patients heal - especially those recovering from vehicle collisions (something we see a lot of!), which can cause fractures, paralysis, head trauma, and mobility challenges.
Under the guidance of our veterinary team, our dedicated volunteer physiotherapists provide hands-on care through manual therapy, strength-building ramps, and water-based rehabilitation. These personalized exercises help turtles regain critical survival skills like swimming, diving, floating, and even just righting themselves.
Their goal is simple but powerful: to restore each turtle’s independence so they can safely return to their natural wetland habitat.
Our physio team may be small, but they are mighty! With just four volunteers, they show up to every shift with care, patience, and expertise. Thanks to their incredible work, every year lucky turtles who have successfully completed their physiotherapy are released back into the wild.
We are so grateful for this amazing team and the life-changing impact they have on our patients!
#VolunteerAppreciationWeek
In honour of #WorldVeterinaryDay, we’re celebrating our amazing team of First Responders! 🩺
We currently have 49 dedicated First Responders located across southern Ontario who help us in our mission to protect Ontario’s native freshwater turtles. These volunteer veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and veterinary clinics have received specialized training from our veterinary staff, and provide our patients with initial care before making their way to our facility. By providing fluids, pain medication, and bandages, they are able to stabilize our patients while they await transportation to our hospital. They do all of this on top of their own workload, either during or after their workday, and we would not have the success we do without these devoted volunteers. We cannot thank them enough for keeping so many of our patients safe and stable!
⚠️When calling our injured turtle hotline, we will typically try to direct you to the closest available First Responder if you are not able to drive the turtle directly to Peterborough. As our hotline team does all of the coordinating, we ask that you always call us first so that we can confirm the availability of the First Responders involved. This helps ensure these volunteers do not become overwhelmed, and that we can direct you elsewhere if needed. We do not publicly post our First Responders for this reason. If you are familiar with any of them, we ask that you respect their privacy and not post their identity, or direct people to them, without their consent.
#VolunteerAppreciationWeek 💚
Today we are highlighting our incredible turtle taxi and release volunteers! 🐢🚖
These dedicated volunteers are subscribed to our mailing list, which includes all the trips that injured turtles need to make across the province, and offer relays or full rides to help them make this journey. This means they are offering their time and gas to ensure our patients get the help they require. Last year, our team drove (and even flew!) over 200,000 km, helping over 2,200 injured turtles receive this lifesaving care.
Many of these volunteers also take on another important role as releasers — who better to take them home than the ones who helped them along the way? Getting our patients back out into the wild is such an important role, and must be handled with respect, care, knowledge, and understanding. These animals need to be returned to their ancestral wetland, and our release volunteers do just that! By suiting up in their waders and using canoes and kayaks, they make sure these turtles are as far into safe habitat as possible within their releasable range. Last year our volunteers released over 4,000 turtles back to their home wetlands. What a win for Ontario’s turtles!
We truly could not help the volume of turtles we do without this team. Their role is vital in protecting and conserving Ontario’s freshwater turtles. Thank you Turtle Taxi Team for all that you do! So many turtles get to go back home because of you! 👏💚
#VolunteerAppreciationWeek
NOW LIVE...OTCC is excited to announce our 🐢2026 Silent Auction🐢! Up for bids this week is a variety of artwork featuring turtles and nature. Items are available for viewing in person at our gift shop. Bid online now at ontarioturtle.ca/auction or the link in our bio! This week's auction ends Wed Apr 29 at noon!
All artwork has been generously donated by the artists, and all proceeds support OTCC's critical conservation work. If you have artwork or items you'd like to donate for our next auction, reach out to [email protected].
Stay tuned, there will be more items listed next Thursday morning!
