Eighty Turtles Cause Delays at JFK Runways by Bill Sanderson - New York Post

Are turtles next on Bloombergs "hit list"..?

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Eighty turtles refused to get the shell out of the way of Kennedy Airport runway traffic yesterday, causing a 1½-hour snarl at one of JFK's busiest times.

The dopey dawdlers, which are in the heart of their spawning season, were finally rounded up by a squad of Port Authority animal-control experts -- but not before two were crushed by a departing flight.

Turtles on the tarmac are "not unprecedented, but it doesn't happen a lot," said PA spokesman John Kelly.

The first few slowpokes emerged from Jamaica Bay at around 8:30 a.m., when they were spotted by the pilot of a departing American Eagle flight who radioed that three turtles were on the southern end of a runway surrounded on both sides by water.

Controllers then held a departing American Airlines jet until the wildlife-control workers arrived.

At 8:44 a.m., the runway was completely shut down for 12 minutes as workers cleared it of turtles.

But the procession picked right up just a minute after the runway reopened, with another departing pilot reporting more turtles making the slow march toward the tarmac.

In all, about a dozen pilots called the control tower about the spaced invaders, said FAA spokesman Jim Peters.

Controllers scrambled to switch traffic to different runways while airport workers removed a total of 78 turtles -- along with the corpses of two that were crushed by a departing flight.

The rescued turtles were released into the wild.

From late May to mid-July, female terrapins crawl out of their normal habitat to lay eggs on higher ground.

The PA's Kelly reported that the turtles were 2 or 3 pounds each.

Ilene Eberly, a researcher at the Wetlands Institute of Stone Harbor, NJ, said female diamondback terrapins average about 7 inches long, while males are about 4 inches.

Turtle-plane "collisions" are rare: Just five were reported at JFK from 2000 through 2008.

Flight Delays as JFK Airport Runway Taken Over by Turtles!By Simone Weichselbaum - NY Daily News

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78 diamondback terrapins, like the one above, delayed flights for over an hour at JFK Wednesday. Drake/Saving Florida

Dozens of randy turtles crawled onto a JFK airport runway Wednesday, delaying flights for over an hour, authorities said.

Port Authority workers rushed to the shell-covered runway about 8:30 a.m. and scooped up 78 diamondback terrapins that had left the waters of Jamaica Bay scouting a spot to breed, said Port Authority spokesman John Kelly.

Pilots from various airlines shared the news with stuck passengers who had to wait up to 90 minutes for their flights to take off so the turtles could land in a safe place.

"Everybody had a good attitude considering it was turtles going off to hatch more turtles," Kelly said.

The animals were piled onto the back of a Port Authority pickup truck and were moved "back into Jamaica Bay," Kelly said.

Twin-Turtle Shell Shock - Turtles Blog

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Meet Jekyll & Hyde - extremely rare baby twin turtles - who share a shell and are now being studied by amazed scientists on Long Island.

The conjoined diamondback turtles, barely bigger than a thumbnail, were found 12 days ago at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, said Hofstra University Associate Professor of Biology Russell Burke.

Jekyll & Hyde "is a really weird animal" with six legs, two heads, two tails and one shell, he said.

"You can't look at this guy and not be amazed. He's pretty cool."

Chemical pollution could be responsible for the mutation, but the most likely explanation is "it happened completely naturally - because every reproduction event is a toss of the dice," Burke said.

Painted Turtle Angers Brooklyn Neighborhood by David Freedlander - Newsday.com

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A box turtle that has for years crawled through backyards in Williamsburg was discovered last week painted a sickly orange, with neighbors blaming construction workers next door with ample time and spray paint on their hands.

Photos of the poor turtle, known as Myrtle, in her new Technicolor shell were first posted on the blog The Gowanus Lounge, and caused a cascade of vitriol on the site.

'Myrtle' the turtle, a neighborhood fixture in Williamsburg, was discovered painted in the same color as is used at a nearby construction site. (Photo courtesy Gowanus Lounge blog www.gowanuslounge.com / May 5, 2008)

"Whoever did this should rot in hell," wrote one commenter. "We live in a world of sociopaths," commented another.

Myrtle the Turtle was discovered painted orange in a backyard next to a development that has long been an irritant to longtime residents. They have complained of demolition work, cracks appearing in the walls of their homes, and ripped out phone and cable lines.

The developer of the residential project at 5 Roebling Street, Shlomo Karpen, could not be reached for comment.

The owner of the building next to the development has for years been keeping turtles in her backyard. Meredith Chesney, who lives there, says the practice is something of a neighborhood folk custom.

She said she believed that the turtle escaped through a hole in the fence left by the construction work and wondered onto the site.



Many in the neighborhood said they thought that the appearance of a traffic cone-colored terrapin symbolized all that had gone wrong with their area.

"It's like Williamsburg has ever been full of natural beauty, but eventually you're able to see beauty in the ugliness," said Judy McGuire, who had lived in the area for 12 years and started noticing Myrtle a few springs ago. "But we have these little tiny bits of nature and beauty that just keep on being run over and destroyed and hurt. It's really disheartening."

Robert Guskind, who founded the Gowanus Lounge and has been following real estate for years, said he thought the case of Myrtle was one of the most appalling development stories he'd heard.

"I've probably done a thousand posts about illegal construction and buildings violating regulations with impunity but this probably ticked me off more than anything," he said. "In the grand scheme I know it's just symbolic, but it really made my blood boil. Even a little turtle can't escape the awful things being done to the city."


The turtle has since been returned to the wilds of its Brooklyn backyard. Chesney tried to clean her up, without much success.

Kami Race, who runs a private wildlife rehabilitation center upstate specializing in turtle rescue, said she thought that the best thing for Myrtle now was just to be left alone.

"They have lasted from the time of the dinosaurs for a reason," she said. "They're pretty tough customers."