News and Stories

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden welcomed a few new neighbors to Bowyer Farm this past week. Cheered on by Zoo staff, summer campers, and partners from the Ohio Division of Wildlife (ODW), ten eastern box turtles took their first few slow and steady steps out of temporary enclosures and into their new wild homes.

This release was the culmination of many months of planning and collaboration with partner organizations across Ohio, all of whom are committed not only to returning box turtles back to their natural habitats, but also ongoing monitoring and data collection to help guide future release efforts. Together, this statewide partnership is working towards ensuring that Ohio’s eastern box turtle populations thrive in the wild for years to come.

It Began with a Turtle Rescue

In September of 2025, ODW reached out to the Zoo with a unique call for help. A school in West Carrollton, Ohio was housing nearly 30 box turtles in its courtyard, but the property was slated for demolition, putting this multi-generational group of reptiles in danger. Would the Zoo be willing to help collect and care for the turtles until they can be safely released back into the wild? The answer was a no-brainer: shell yes!

Staff from the Animal, Conservation, and Veterinary teams helped collect the turtles and care for them behind-the-scenes at the Zoo during their brumation period, while ODW worked on identifying potential release sites and strategies. It seemed only natural that Bowyer Farm, with its partially restored wetlands and stretches of forest and native plants, would make an ideal home for box turtles. While individuals can visit Bowyer by attending Native Plant Sales or enrolling in education programs, it is a private property and closed to the general public.

Fast forward to May: ten turtles, a mixture of those rescued from the school courtyard and others from a voluntary surrender, were introduced to Bowyer’s forest and given time to acclimate to the landscape. Each turtle was fitted with a tracking device so that Zoo staff and ODW could monitor the turtles’ progress and locate them for body condition checks, and since their release last week, the turtles have already been successfully tracked and checked on. Bowyer’s newest residents are already making themselves at home!

How You Can Help Box Turtles

One of the more immediate positive impacts we’ve seen from this program is the increase in awareness of the threats facing box turtles—including the illegality of collecting and keeping box turtles as pets. Along with loss of habitat and vehicular collisions, the illegal wildlife trade jeopardizes native eastern box turtle populations.

Wildlife confiscation efforts and voluntary surrenders can help get box turtles, including those at Bowyer, back where they belong. If you or someone you know has a box turtle you’d like to release back to the wild, it’s important that you don’t release it yourself—please seek advice from ODW or contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

By leaving box turtles in the wild and admiring them from afar, creating and protecting native landscapes, and keeping an eye on the road, we can all help this iconic Ohio species flourish! The Cincinnati Zoo will continue to do its part by monitoring the progress of our Bowyer turtles, sharing findings and solutions with our statewide partners, and paving the way for successful wildlife rescue-and-release efforts in the future.