July 13 - Weekly Volunteer Email

Written By Kitty Rodé

Aaniin Everyone,

I hope you all are staying cool and hydrated.  Temperatures are increasing again tomorrow.  

Chi miigwetch to everyone for protecting turtles and more! We are so grateful to you all! We had a lovely Shellabration last week with more than 40 volunteers in attendance. We mingled, ate tasty ice cream from Honey's, and shared appreciation for each other.

EXTREME HEAT PRECAUTIONS:

  • Please limit your time in the park tomorrow and on other hot days. If you are in the park, please monitor any animal relatives who appear to be in distress due to the heat and contact our Hotline.  

  • The pavement will be extremely hot. Dog paws can suffer burns. If you are with a turtle during extreme heat, consider carrying them across pavement just as we would carry them across roads.  

  • If a turtle remains on pavement for an extended period, this could lead to a health emergency. If turtle is hunkered down in a shady area this gives them an opportunity to cool down and regulate their body temperature.

IMPORTANT SCHEDULE UPDATE/CHANGES:

  • We know some of you have been in the parks daily for long hours. This is primarily due to a lack of available volunteers. We are so grateful to you!

  •  We know some people are becoming exhausted. Therefore we have decided to decrease the number of volunteers in the parks now that the nesting season is slowing down.

  • We ask that at least one volunteer checks the nests daily in each park. This check may require trimming grasses, or checking for any animals who may be trapped under protectors. For High Park we would like one daily check in each area of the park. We hope this provides a well deserved break for those who contributed so many hours during the nesting season.

  • Beginning next week we will reduce our Hotline operation hours. We will monitor the Hotline until 5pm. We will include guidance on the voicemail about what to do if a turtle is crossing a road. We will check messages daily

  • Turtles may still be active on land at times. Therefore we ask that you still pay attention whenever possible to the Turtles/Hatchlings on Land Signal chat. Or we may call volunteers to see if anyone is available to protect a turtle

  • We will resume regular hours beginning mid August for hatchling season.

  • Weekly volunteer emails will now be sent every two weeks. The next email will be July 27th

NEST UPDATE:

  • We have protected 112 nests so far:  61 snapping, 49 painted, 1 map, 1 Giizis

  • We have also protected at least 22 RES and other non-native turtles.

  • Nests excavated and eggs transported to Scales for incubation: 38 clutches and 1097 eggs

  • Here’s an updated data summary up until right now.Volunteers can search for nests that currently have a protector on this map. If you click on a pin, you can see all form information including pictures/videos: https://ourdataindigenous.ca/turtleprotectors-map.html

MURAL:

  • Macie and Claudia, both artists, will paint a mural on the High Park shed. Park Supervisor supports this and has informed city officials.

  • They want input from all of you on the mural as they want it to be meaningful to volunteers and want it to be a collaborative process..

  • Please complete the brief form to provide feedback:  CLICK HERE

RESCHEDULED VOLUNTEER SHELLABRATION:

  • For those who didn't attend the High Park Shellabration, please complete the form if you are interested in attending the Shellabration at Brickworks. The most popular date will be chosen.  

  • Please complete this form by tomorrow evening if you wish for the date to be Thursday, the 16th: CLICK HERE

CELEBRATION OF LIFE CEREMONY:

  • Please RSVP for this ceremony to honour animal relatives who passed away this season. This ceremony is only for volunteers.

  • Only register if you plan to attend this ceremony:  CLICK HERE

VOLUNTEER SHIRTS/TANK TOPS:

  • If you still need a shirt/tank top, please arrange to pick it up from High Park or during the Brickworks Shellabration

  • Please message Carolynne directly on Signal to make these arrangements. This is much faster than emailing us.  We have more than 1000 unread emails!

We hope you all have a lovely week ahead!

Carolynne and Jenny

Kitty Rodé https://www.kittyrode.com
Next

July 6 - Weekly Volunteer Email