The disease affecting the Georges River Turtles has reached its peak and the group given the task of coordinating the event will be disbanded by the end of the week.
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The winding down of onsite operations was a surprise announcement made at an information session held by the turtle Incident Management Team (IMT) to explain to locals what had been discovered by experts after weeks of researching.
“IMTs are active as long as there is an appropriate role for them. As the disease appears to be past its peak there is little more the IMT can achieve. Much of the river has now been assessed and many of the dead turtles have been removed,” a National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) spokesperson said.
More than 315 turtles, about 10 per cent of the population, have been found dead or dying as a result of contracting the disease and experts said “there is an intensive ongoing effort to determine the cause of the mortalities, involving at least seven specialist institutions. A number of serious pathogens have been excluded, and work is ongoing. Novel pathogens can be frustrating to elucidate and require significant time”.
While there’s no magic solution, the NPWS said there had been four turtles who were affected by the disease yet were unusually vigorous and this had given them reason to pause with plans to isolate turtles for a breeding program.
“Up to this point our data suggested that the disease had a 100 per cent mortality rate. When we found these turtles with relatively few symptoms still vigorous it was decided to mark and release these animals to see if they were able to forage or if they would be found (to be) further impacted by the disease at a later date. These animals were released in the same locations in which they were originally found. So far none have been re-sighted,” a NPWS spokesperson said.
“Turtles have not been taken out for a breeding program, although this is something which has not been excluded. Surveys of the river indicate the reaches below Paradise water hole to Bellingen are where affected turtles have been detected - in the Kalang and headwaters of the Bellinger River there haven’t been any diseased turtles detected.
“If these areas remain disease-free these will be much more effective recruitment sources for the reestablishment the turtle into its former range without the biosecurity risk associated with a breeding program.”
Anyone finding sick turtles should call the environment line on 131-555 or Bellingen Shire Council.
