SoundWaters provides permanent home for rescued diamondback terrapins

SoundWaters, headquartered in Stamford is expecting delivery Wednesday of 25 diamondback terrapin hatchlings seized when U.S. customs inspectors in Alaska intercepted an illegal shipment reportedly destined for China.

Leigh Shemitz, President of SoundWaters, reports that a nursery for the baby terrapins has been set up at the Coastal Education Center in Cove Island Park that serves as a learning laboratory for scientific enrichment focused on Long Island Sound: “We have a team of experienced Educators who will care for the hatchlings. Once grown, students will study these terrapins as part of the hands-on scientific learning experience here at SoundWaters.”

SoundWaters is the regional leader for environmental education of Long Island Sound, and has a special focus on the diamondback terrapin, with an exhibit and curriculum devoted to this special creature. The diamondback terrapin offers a unique success story for marine conservation. Once ubiquitous in the area (it is the only turtle native to Long Island Sound), the diamondback terrapin became locally extinct for almost a century, due to overfishing (and a high demand for turtle soup!). Regulations to protect the diamondback terrapin have led to a resurgence of this unique and vital creature.

As a member of the national Diamondback Terrapin Working Group, SoundWaters has hosted regional meetings and created an in-depth curriculum to teach students about the ecology and conservation of this creature.

Diamondback terrapins are native to the salt marshes and tidal creeks of the sound in a habitat that extends from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to the entire Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions. When hatched, diamondback terrapins are the size of a nickel. The female grows to a foot long, the male half that size. They live for between 25 – 40 years, with a distinctive diamond pattern on the shell; each individual has its own unique markings.

The shipment of 25 rescued creatures will be flown to Westchester airport and SoundWaters is part of a cache of upwards of 70 hatchlings moved to the Anchorage Museum after being impounded from a ring of international smugglers.  Leigh Shemitz, President of SoundWaters, noted that: “our job is to protect Long Island Sound through education. Providing a permanent home for rescued diamondback terrapins offers a unique opportunity for protecting these animals after they have been saved from a smuggling ring, and then, once they are grown, using these terrapins for hands-on education, so they next generation can learn about these amazing creatures.”