First national turtle sanctuary comes to Lincolnshire Wildlife Park

A first of its kind in the country, it is collaboration between Lincolnshire Wildlife Park (LWP), National Centre for Reptile Welfare and Cold-blooded Care along with huge support from award winning turtle nutrition supplier, King British.

The National Turtle Sanctuary will see the first of many specialist 'pods' in place by spring 2020.

Each purpose-built pod has been carefully designed on site by the team which will house up to 12 terrapins in need of a retirement home and, with more pods in the pipeline in the near future, the Sanctuary aims to house upwards of 1,000 of varying species of turtles and terrapins

"We’ve had a long term connection with the team down at the National Centre for Reptile Welfare in Tonbridge, and since the centre opened a very large problem for both the centre and our natural habitats was identified very quickly - turtles!’ explains Andy Ferguson, Herpetologist, Lincolnshire

Wildlife Park.

"With such a vast space available to us here, we have the capabilities to provide more than enough space and land for terrapins to be housed, and as we are a sanctuary they will be here to enjoy the remainder of their lives."

A scheme such as this is of course not completed overnight, nor without a generous budget. The team have been working to get the program underway since early summer and as part of this have secured invaluable funding from Lincolnshire based, King British.

Andy said: "We would like to express our gratitude to king British for assisting us in the creation of the National Turtle Sanctuary, this sponsorship is invaluable to the project, not only in providing the charity with funds that will enable us to construct stage one of the rehoming centre but ensuring its success with donations from sales during February and March.

"Whilst the specialist space of a single pod will enable us to initially home up to 12 turtles in need these will, of course require food which King British have also so kindly pledged to us.

"We send our most sincere thanks to them for being pivotal in the formation of our first of its kind National Turtle Sanctuary."

In keeping with the wildlife park's ethos of working with local companies where possible, they have drafted in Lincolnshire Pond Plants who will provide not only decorative flora but also specially chosen pond plants to ensure water quality in the most natural and eco-friendly way.

Roman Muryn a turtle specialist herpetologist, advisor to the project previously spoke of the research to Peregrine reptile news about the advantages of the sanctuary

He said: “In conjunction with Dr. Anna Wilkinson from Cold-blooded Care we shall be able to assemble useful husbandry data. Science-based education is at the forefront of the parks’ ethos – this initiative is perfect."

Once completed The National Turtle Sanctuary will be open for any casual enthusiasts to visit . However, it will also be available to any education and research groups to gather vital information for their own projects in the NTS Exploration Centre, which coincides perfectly with any other of the

park's 2020 conservation and education projects, Wild4Learning. That, however, is another story entirely.