Eastern box turtles are beloved backyard animals across eastern North America but face serious threats from road mortality, habitat loss, and collection, with populations declining across their range.
Eastern box turtle welfare is threatened most acutely by roads. Adult turtles, especially reproductive females, are killed while crossing roads built through their home ranges. Because box turtles live so long and reproduce slowly, the loss of even a few adults per year can push a local population toward extinction. They should never be relocated from where they are found: box turtles translocated from their home range often wander in search of familiar territory, crossing roads repeatedly and dying. Helping a box turtle cross the road in the direction it was heading is the correct intervention. Habitat protection and road mitigation measures are the systemic solutions.