So I found a whole bunch of snapping turtles hatching, and took them to the river, did i do the right thing?

Question

I was camping and around 10:30 PM i found snapping turtles hatching.

They seemed to be attracted to light so i made a trench in the sand and led them with a lantern to the river. Some of them stopped at the rivers edge but most of them went right in the water. Did I do the right thing, is there any chance that they would survive.

By the way the whole camping park was packed to the gill, i thought they would have a better chance in the river rather then crawling around the beach for a couple of days.

Answer 1

Yes you did- thank you for not trying to keep them.

Answer 2

Kudos to you for doing the right thing.  Like it was said above, there are some people that would have put all of them in a box and tried to make a buck off of them.

Answer 3

   You did great!

Most people would have took them to keep or sell. Good Job!

Answer 4

Good for you. You did the right thing. You deserve the star of the day award.

Answer 5

That was a great choice. Most people would have sold them or keep them. But you just helped them survive.

Answer 6

It is SUCH a delight to read a question like this.  You just have no idea how many times I type "Please do the right thing, and turn it loose..."

So, a billion kuddos, kiddo!!!  (Claps hands and makes cats jump and stare at her in curiosity.)

Yep, the lil darlins are SO tired after fighting out of the egg, its usually a real struggle for them to rest up, get going, and find the water.  So, doing the trench to guide them gave them a nice break and helped reserve their energy.

'You dun guuuud,' as the adage goes.  lol

Getting them off a busy beach most likely increased the percentage of the clutch which will survive, and you also saved them from night predators (well, at least ones on land).

Again, job well done, and keep up the great work.

Answer 7

you did good if you hadn't helped them chances are only one or two would have lived so good for you feel good for yourself

Answer 8

Sounds good to me, you probably helped them out in their survival.

Answer 9

I'm not a expert, but my father use to catch a lot of snapping turtles, so I got a little working knowledge.

I'd say you did the right thing. The first thing a turtle has to do when it's born is find the water.  They're slow moving, and they're beaks aren't quite big enough to defend themselves on land so I'm going to say you did these little ones a favor.  Keep in mind too with a park full of people that means cars and even adult snapping turtles can be found on the side of the road.  So I'd say you did the right thing.