The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has partnered with Granby Zoo and others this week to purchase properties near Montreal they say is essential to protect the endangered spiny softshell turtle.
MONTREAL The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has partnered with Granby Zoo and others this week to purchase properties near Montreal they say are essential to protect the endangered spiny softshell turtle. The NCC said in a news release that the two properties along the Riviere aux Brochets (Pike River), about an hour south of Montreal, feature habitats essental to spiny softshell turtles.
The Canadian Species at Risk registry moved the spiny softshell (Apalone spinifera) from threatened to endangered in Februrary, 2019, and listed habitat and population fragmentation by infrastructure as a primary threat to the species. In Quebec, the turtle is only found in the Lake Champlain area, though other populations exist in Ontario.