NH Turtle Rescue

06/12/2026

Patient releases are always bittersweet, but it's wonderful to be able to give them a second chance and to bring them back to their wilds homes! 🐢💚

This video is of Laricina, a female Spotted Turtle who was released back to her home yesterday. What do you suppose she's thinking when she looks back at us? 🤔

You can support our work helping threatened and endangered turtles like Laricina by making a donation to us through our website (link in the comments below 👇).

We've already admitted over 125 turtles this year, and nesting season is only halfway done! Your gift goes directly towards turtle care and makes a huge impact for our wild populations. Let's come together to make sure our turtles ave a bright future ahead of them!

06/10/2026

Q: How do we protect turtle populations long-term?

A: Through habitat protection and environmental stewardship.

We are proud to support the land trusts and conservation organizations who work to ensure that New Hampshire can continue to host the turtles and other wildlife we hold so dearly for generations to come.

This NH Gives, we encourage you to donate to the following nonprofits as well:

💚 SELT - Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire
💚 Bear-Paw Regional Greenways
💚 Moose Mountains Regional Greenways
💚 Harris Center for Conservation Education
💚 New Hampshire Audubon
💚 New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions
💚 Access Conservation
💚 New Hampshire Animal Rights League
💚 New Hampshire Environmental Educators

Turtle protection and preservation is a team effort, and it takes a community to make that a success! 🐢💚

06/09/2026

It’s turtle time! 🐢⏰

has officially begun!

We’re wrapping this 24-hour day of giving into our June Turtle Nesting Fundraising Drive, and have an ambitious goal of raising $7,500 during NH Gives to help us unlock matching funds pledged by Firebird Farm Antiques and Emi's Porta Pottys.

Head over to our NH Gives page linked in the comments below and contribute to the protection and preservation of New Hampshire’s wild turtles! 💚

06/08/2026

Yesterday marked our 100th patient intake so far this year. Just in the past week alone we admitted 40 injured turtles who had been hit by cars. 😵‍💫

We run our facility out of our home and volunteer all of our time to run NHTR – we don’t get paid; our compensation is the gratification we get from helping some of our most vulnerable wildlife.

NHTR is a nonprofit public charity and is funded entirely from donations and grants; we don’t receive any state or federal funding to do our work. We need your help to enable us to provide expert individualized care to all of the patients we take in.

We’re participating in , a 24-hour statewide fundraiser for New Hampshire nonprofits that starts tomorrow, June 9 at 5PM.

During the month of June, our generous sponsors including Emi's Porta Pottys and Firebird Farm Antiques have pledged $10,000 in matching funds to give every donation twice the impact. That means that any contribution to NHTR this month will be DOUBLED, dollar-for-dollar, to protect and preserve New Hampshire’s turtles.

Our awesome supporters have already helped us to reach the $6,000 mark. Will you give us a boost to reach the full $10,000? No gift is too small, and every cent of your donation goes directly towards caring for injured turtles and getting them back to their wild homes.

Thank you so much for making a difference for New Hampshires turtles! 🐢💚

06/07/2026

It’s currently the height of the turtle nesting season here in New Hampshire! 🐢🥚 We have been burning the candle at both ends taking calls about nesting turtles and admitting injured turtles for care. In just the past week alone we’ve gotten in over 30 patients needing emergency medical care, many of them females who were making their nesting journey.

One bright moment was a recent call from someone in town who told us they had seen a Blanding’s turtle digging in their yard the night before. They have dogs who like to dig, and were worried the nest might get compromised.

Drew (our NHTR president) spent some time in the morning putting together a nest protector, and headed over to their house to install it over the nest to keep animals from getting at the nest. These types of nest protectors need to be removed after no more than 50 days so that hatchlings don’t get stuck inside and bake in the sun on a hot day.

Turtle nests are legally protected in New Hampshire, meaning that it is unlawful to disturb them in any way. If you have mulch or dirt piles that you’re planning to use, cover them with a tarp to dissuade turtles from nesting in it.

And if you have a turtle nesting in your yard, just leave her be and within 24 hours she will be gone. If she’s disturbed she will be forced to find a new spot, and may have to cross roads or yards with dogs, all of which put her at risk. Turtles don’t protect their nests or provide any parental care, so that momma will be heading off back to her wetlands as soon as she’s finished.

If you would like to know how to protect a nest, check out the link from our colleagues across the border in the comments below 👇

And, as always, if you find an injured turtle or have any questions about a turtle you come across, give us a call or text at (603) 417-4944.

05/30/2026

It’s been a busy week here at NHTR! While everyone else is probably bummed out at the cold and rainy weather on this Saturday, we’re breathing a big sigh of relief because we expect the rate of patient intakes to be minimal while turtles hunker down and wait for the weather to warm up. That should give us a little bit of time to catch up on things, including patient stories!

Last Sunday during the Memorial Day weekend, we received a call from a Seabrook resident reporting a large turtle on the beach. We’ve never gotten a call about a sea turtle before, and usually sea turtles don’t go much further north than Cape Cod. We asked the caller to send a picture so we could try to determine the species and figure out next steps.

When we got the picture, we were taken aback. It was an adult snapping turtle wandering around in the sand and surf! Snapping turtles are habitat generalists and can thrive in many types of wetlands and waterbodies, but definitely not the ocean!

The picture and video are from where he was found wandering around on Seabrook beach.

Looking at a map convinced us that there was no way this snapper made his way to the beach on his own. Did someone pick him up and drop him off there? We called our colleague at NH Fish & Game who graciously answered on a holiday weekend (thanks Josh!), and after some discussion we came to the conclusion that this snapper likely got washed down the river into the estuary, and then ended up in the ocean and managed not to get swept away.

The original callers were incredibly helpful in getting the turtle contained in a bin while our transport volunteer Julie was dispatched to pick him up and bring him to our clinic for evaluation. While there were no visible injuries to the snapper, being in cold salt water for an extended period of time on a cold day could lead to severe dehydration and other latent issues.

We held onto Starfish (our name for him while he was in our care) to give him fluids to offset any saltwater intake and to let him warm back up while we monitored him for any signs of sickness from his ordeal. During his exam, we also noticed what looked like healed-over bullet or pellet holes in the back of his carapace. He’s really been through a lot in his life.

Starfish thankfully exhibited no concerning behavior, and after consulting with the state biologist we were able to release him at a freshwater location far back upstream where he likely came from. A wonderful conclusion to a very strange situation!

If you come across a turtle in an odd or concerning place, don’t hesitate to call or text us at (603) 417-4944. Quick action can make a big difference for our turtles!

Also, from now through the end of June, all donations made to NHTR up to $10,000 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by our generous supporters. Visit our website to find different ways to contribute to the care and preservation of New Hampshire’s native turtles. No amount is too small to have an impact! 🐢💚

05/26/2026

Is this your tortoise? Found in a backyard in Nashua. Please reach out to us at (603) 417-4944 if this is your pet!

05/25/2026

If you missed our “Turtles of New Hampshire” presentation on World Turtle Day, you’re in luck! We recorded the talk and have made it available on YouTube for everyone to learn from and enjoy! 🐢💚

Learn about New Hampshire's native turtles, the threats they're fac...

05/23/2026

There's still time to register and join us this morning at 11AM for our virtual "Turtles of New Hampshire" presentation!

Register via the link in the comments below 👇

05/22/2026

Meet miss Harriet, an eastern box turtle ambassador at NH Turtle Rescue - she has been enjoying outside time these past warm days, and she loves a good soak. ☀️

More big news - tomorrow, Saturday May 23rd, is WORLD TURTLE DAY! 💚🐢

To shellabrate such a special day, we are hosting a virtual Turtles of New Hampshire presentation to discuss our native turtle species in NH and the ways you can help them. We hope you’ll join us!

Event details:
🗓️ Saturday, May 23rd at 11am
📍Zoom meeting (registration link in comments)

Check the link in the comments (or on our website > Events page) for the registration page - you will receive an immediate follow up email with the Zoom link - save this email to access tomorrow’s meeting.

We hope to see you there turtle friends!