About 1500 baby turtles are about to get their first snap of freedom when they are released in waterways across the New England region.
For the past few months, University of New England (UNE) Phd candidate Louise Streeting has been working with honours student Tessa Stewart and UNE researcher Eric Nordberg to rescue the Bell's Turtle by collecting the pregnant mothers and waiting for them to give birth before incubating the eggs in a lab.
They let the turtle mothers go back into the wild while the eggs are mollycoddled for about 60 days in a comfy 27 degrees celsius nursery at the university.
Ms Streeting said the mothers don't look after their babies during the incubation period, but that they will be releasing the hatchlings at the site of capture.
And now that the eggs are hard-shelled little reptiles with feet, the UNE team, with the help of a few local school kids, is about to start letting them go in batches at 14 rivers and creeks across New England from now until the end of March.
The Bell's Turtle is found only in the high-altitude rivers and streams in the New England tablelands region but has become endangered due to foxes raiding their nests in search of late-night savoury snacks.
In an additional attempt to protect the turtles, Ms Streeting and the team have installed wire meshing and cages around where the mothers-to-be crawl onto the bank, dig their holes, and lay their eggs before covering them up with dirt and flip-flapping back into the water.
They have also erected electric fences to keep out their main predator.
However, the hatchlings are still at risk from other factors such as pollution, birds and fish.
Ms Streeting said the turtles "look so precious" when they are first hatched, with her favourites being the tiniest measuring about the size of a 10-cent coin.
The PhD candidate is expected to complete her six-year thesis titled Saving the Bell's Turtle by the end of this year.
She has previously incubated and released about 1,000 Bell's Turtles as part of the incubation method she developed which has resulted in a 97 per cent to 100pc success rate.
"Some of the hatchlings I've released four years ago are starting to appear in our surveys which is just incredible," Ms Streeting said.
Farmers are also collaborating on the project by allowing access to the native turtles' habitat which often runs through agricultural land.
Ms Streeting has advised people to contact the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services to become part of the Turtles Forever Project if they suspect Bell's Turtles inhabit their property.
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