Snapping turtle released in B.C.'s Cariboo finds a new home

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Early in the summer, the team at the Scout Island Nature Centre in Williams Lake were visited by Conservation Officers and were handed a turtle.

The officers named the turtle Travis and identified it as a common snapping turtle, a species native to areas in the United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains. According to the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre , common snapping turtles are the largest freshwater turtle native to Ontario. In B.C., common snapping turtles are invasive and categorized as a Provincial Containment species , meaning their presence in the province is limited but there is significant potential for them to spread.

"I don't know how he came to Williams Lake," said Lara Roorda, manager at Scout Island. She was told Travis