{"id":760029,"date":"2026-07-13T08:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/760029\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T08:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:38:19","slug":"unparalleled-effort-to-help-illinois-endangered-turtles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/760029\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Unparalleled’ effort to help Illinois’ endangered turtles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the squelching and sloshing of waders and the eggy smell of shallow wetland waters, Matt Allender bent down and caught something in his hand. He raised it triumphantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cFound a turtle!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a snapping one, and it does just that; it snaps at him, unhappy about being grabbed.<\/p>\n

It was in 2015 \u2014 when all the equipment he had fit in a tackle box and the only help he had was a part-time vet student \u2014 that Allender, now the director of conservation biology at Brookfield Zoo, began heading out to Lake County every year to tend to turtles in the wild. They would do some blood work and test for a few diseases.<\/p>\n

In the years since, as science has uncovered more threats<\/a>, viruses and bacteria affecting turtles, these field visits have become longer and more complex.<\/p>\n

This June, Allender was joined by more than 20 people, mostly veterinarians, in a yearly \u201cBlanding\u2019s Bowl\u201d \u2014 a friendly competition that splits scientists from multiple institutions, including the Cook and Lake County forest preserves, into several teams to tend to native species such as the painted turtle, the common snapping turtle and the event namesake, the state-endangered Blanding\u2019s turtle, of which fewer than 500 are left in Illinois.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo now it\u2019s quite the operation,\u201d Allender said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing something special, and people want to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The groups found a total of 50 different Blanding\u2019s turtles over four days.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor an endangered turtle, that\u2019s pretty remarkable,\u201d said Gary Glowacki, manager of conservation ecology at the Lake County Forest Preserves District.<\/p>\n

The scientists strategically set more than 100 traps across wetland and prairie habitats in the county, and inside placed sardines, cat food or store-bought salmon to lure the turtles. (One biologist believes the tinned fish make the best bait when coated in sriracha.) They then returned to the site every morning for three days to check up on their patients and release them.<\/p>\n

And the fanfare was visible among the scientists, some of whom wore turtle earrings and custom-made T-shirts. But the primary focus of the bowl is to offer healthcare to turtles in the wild, Allender said. \u201cWe\u2019re their doctors. Nobody else is doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re able to, in three and a half days, assess the health of one of the state\u2019s most endangered turtles is pretty amazing,\u201d he said in a follow-up call with the Tribune. \u201cWe won\u2019t have a lot of those test results for several months, but the effort in order to get (them) is really unparalleled anywhere else in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glowacki said the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not many people that are experts in the health and wellness of wild turtles, and they\u2019re right in our backyard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

From left, veterinarian Laura Adamovicz, Caitlin Mrowiec and Belynda Alberte document and collect samples from three Blanding’s turtles in nearby wetlands during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Allender, the director of conservation biology at Brookfield Zoo, uses a caliper to measure a Blanding’s turtle while Eliza Baker, left, records information during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Belynda<\/p>\n

Belynda Alberte, right, carries a snapping turtle out of the wetlands to be checked and documented during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026, in Lake County. Following behind her is Caitlin Mrowiec. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Veterinarian<\/p>\n

Veterinarian Laura Adamovicz draws blood from a Blanding’s turtle on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Gail<\/p>\n

Gail Bencsik protects a new Blanding’s turtle by placing it in the pocket of her waders before returning it to wetland area where it was trapped on June 22, 2026. The new turtle is a 9-year-old juvenile that they have named Shrek or ABHKL. The name refers to a series of notches placed in the turtle\u2019s shell to help later identify it. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Left<\/p>\n

Left to right: Laura Adamovicz, Caitlin Mrowiec and Belynda Alberte take a selfie with three Blanding’s turtles after collecting data. The selfie is a required step in the Blanding’s Bowl\u2019s elaborate point system. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Allender, director of conservation biology at Brookfield Zoo, holds a Blanding’s turtle while Eliza Baker, left, records information during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Armed<\/p>\n

Armed with calipers, medical equipment and scales, scientists, vets, vet techs and academics head out to check traps and look for Blanding’s turtles during a week of fieldwork called the Blanding’s Bowl on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin<\/p>\n

Caitlin Mrowiec, a wildlife tech with Lake County Forest Preserves, carries a trap with three Blanding’s turtles inside as she and others document and collect samples in the field during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Wildlife<\/p>\n

Wildlife tech Caitlin Mrowiec retrieves one of three Blanding’s turtles inside of a trap as she and others document and collect samples in the field during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Veterinarian<\/p>\n

Veterinarian Laura Adamovicz draws blood from a Blanding’s turtle during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Wildlife<\/p>\n

Wildlife tech Caitlin Mrowiec carries a trap with three Blanding’s turtles to a dry area of the wetlands as she and others document and collect samples in the field during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Wildlife<\/p>\n

Wildlife tech Caitlin Mrowiec uses calipers to measure a Blanding’s turtle as she and others document and collect samples from turtles trapped in nearby wetlands during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Allender, director of conservation biology at Brookfield Zoo, left, goes over the plan for the day during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 14<\/p>\n

From left, veterinarian Laura Adamovicz, Caitlin Mrowiec and Belynda Alberte document and collect samples from three Blanding’s turtles in nearby wetlands during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

After the scientists found stable footing on a sand pit, a painted turtle and a snapping turtle, recovered from traps, became their first patients of the day. Getting word from a nearby team, they then prepared for the arrival of a Blanding\u2019s turtle \u2014 the real star of the week.<\/p>\n

Illinois at the forefront of research and treatment for turtles infected with rare fungus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

First, the turtle was set on its back to be weighed. At 117 grams, it was lighter than a cup of all-purpose flour. Promptly dubbed Shrek by the scientists who found it, it was then handed off to Allender, who gently poked its beak with a Q-tip to start taking swab samples. The reptile opened up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat a good turtle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VeterinarianVeterinarian Laura Adamovicz swabs the mouth of a Blanding’s turtle during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Eliza Baker, a resident veterinarian at a collaborative wildlife health management program between the University of Illinois, Brookfield Zoo and the Forest Preserves of Cook County, ran Allender through a checklist as he inspected the turtle more closely.<\/p>\n

\u201cMouth?\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPink and moist,\u201d he replied. No plaques or lesions.<\/p>\n

\u201cNostrils?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSymmetrical.\u201d No upper respiratory infection.<\/p>\n

Both are signs of a healthy specimen.<\/p>\n

A few moments earlier, Baker had tended to the painted turtle, weighing and measuring it, swabbing and drawing blood.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see something was trying to chew on him in the past,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re just such hardy animals. I mean, this is true of all our wildlife, but the things that they are able to live through, you can see the evidence of predation attempts and, like, old injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VeterinarianVeterinarian Laura Adamovicz weighs a Blanding’s turtle on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

She pointed at some dents on his shell and underside, possibly teeth and claw marks from a predator. Regardless, he looked like a \u201cpretty happy, healthy little turtle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lake County, a \u201ccrown jewel\u201d for Blanding\u2019s turtles in Illinois, is home to an assurance population, Allender explains \u2014 the state\u2019s largest and likeliest to survive over the next 50 to 100 years. And it\u2019s a busy year at the site, with the Super El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> extending the water\u2019s reach and allowing the different turtle species to spread out.<\/p>\n

Turtles are among the\u00a0most endangered<\/a> vertebrates on the planet; almost half of all 357 species are considered threatened. Compare that to 11,000 snake and lizard species. \u201cIt\u2019s not a very big group,\u201d Allender said.<\/p>\n

Other threats to native turtles in Illinois include the loss and fragmentation of habitats like wetlands<\/a> \u2014 of which Illinois has lost\u00a0as much as 90%<\/a> to development \u2014 as well as changes in habitat hydrology from dams and agricultural tile drainage and poaching for the exotic pet trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes these populations, where Blanding\u2019s have persisted, critically important,\u201d Allender said. But it also means concentrations of individuals are vulnerable to localized catastrophic events such as floods, fires, disease and injury.<\/p>\n

\"MattMatt Allender, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine at the University of Illinois and the director of the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab, holds a Blanding’s turtle during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Glowacki said when he started studying wild Blanding\u2019s turtles more than a decade ago, this population was identified as the \u201cbiggest and best\u201d of its kind in Lake County.<\/p>\n

Back then, however, the turtles had a 95% chance of becoming extirpated within 50 years. First, there weren\u2019t enough young turtles to replace adults as raccoons preyed on eggs; most nests were being raided within the first 24 hours. And adults were not surviving at a high enough rate.<\/p>\n

At the site, Allender pointed out cracked eggshells around shallow holes in the sand. \u201cThey\u2019re all over,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout one in 100 to 200 eggs laid will make it to adulthood,\u201d Allender later said. \u201cIf a Blanding\u2019s turtle lays 20 eggs in a year, it might take her five years to produce one offspring that would make it to adulthood, to supplant the population.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so the Lake County Forest Preserves set out to improve survivorship for both older turtles and their offspring.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s kind of where (Allender) and his team have really come in,\u201d Glowacki said. \u201cThat health component: What can we do to make sure these adults are surviving \u2026? Is it a health issue, or is it simply things like road mortality is too high?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CaitlinCaitlin Mrowiec, a wildlife tech, right, carries a trap with three Blanding’s turtles inside as veterinarian Laura Adamovicz, left, follows along during Blanding’s Bowl week on June 22, 2026, in Lake County. During Blanding’s Bowl week, they will collect samples, measure and document the turtles, which helps monitor the Blanding’s turtle population in the area. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

That population was stabilized and is even on a growth trajectory now, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur initial goal was to have a viable, self-sustaining population,\u201d Glowacki said. \u201cSo we\u2019ve been able to get to that viable population, but now we want to get to that self-sustaining, where we\u2019re a little bit (more) \u2026 hands-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a while, efforts to head start populations \u2014 that is, raising young, vulnerable turtles in captivity and then releasing them into the wild when they\u2019re better suited to survive \u2014 in other Lake County sites were paused when Emydomyces testavorans, a rare fungal disease<\/a>, was discovered in three Blanding\u2019s turtles on private property in the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for Emydomyces, where our treatments are effective,\u201d Glowacki said, setting the county up to resume releasing young turtles next year to continue establishing new, self-sustaining populations.<\/p>\n

The success rate of the treatment, developed by the University of Illinois Wildlife Epidemiology Lab and Brookfield Zoo, is between 30% to 40%, Allender said, \u201cwhich for a fungus in a slow-growing animal \u2026 is better than I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running into the group of scientists, a Lake County resident enjoying the pleasant, sunny June afternoon asked Allender what would happen after numbers and data from tests are crunched.<\/p>\n

\u201cSave turtles. Save the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a heavy lift,\u201d the man replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo kidding,\u201d Allender chuckled.<\/p>\n

The longer answer: \u201cI\u2019m really attached to local wildlife,\u201d he told the Tribune. And, for his children and younger generations, he said, \u201cI want to find a way (the turtles) can live in an urban and suburban environment without the need for constant protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glowacki highlighted Blanding\u2019s turtles as a unique part of the area\u2019s natural heritage and history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of another animal that\u2019s more symbolic of the habitat we find in Lake County, the Chicago region, these coastal landscapes and \u2026 marsh habitats, prairies and savannas,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you quickly learn that, by protecting and conserving Blanding\u2019s turtles, you\u2019re really protecting a whole suite of other species.\u201d<\/p>\n

adperez@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the squelching and sloshing of waders and the eggy smell of shallow wetland waters, Matt Allender bent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[325333,7224,192,325335,79,159532,325334],"class_list":["post-760029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-blandings-turtle","tag-endangered","tag-environment","tag-painted-turtle","tag-science","tag-snapping-turtle","tag-turtle-bowl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}