It’s Nesting Season! Watch Out For Turtles on Jersey Shore Roads, Towns Urge

Attention Jersey Shore goers! It's turtle crossing season!

If you're heading to the Jersey shore this summer and you see an oddly-placed rock on the road, careful not to hit it! It could very well be a mama turtle.

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It's turtle crossing season at the Jersey shores, and drivers are being reminded to stay on alert for turtles in the streets.

What kind of turtles are we talking about here? They're diamondback terrapins, and they're in the middle of a very busy nesting season.

During nesting season, thousands of female terrapins are looking for places to lay their eggs, which they do by finding higher grounds. In many cases, that means they have to cross the busy roads, and sadly some of them don't make it.

While you avoid hitting these superhero mama turtles, they also have a ton of help from The Wetlands Institute, based just outside of Stone Harbor, along with other groups that are employing turtle patrols to help get the turtles back to safety.

What can I do to help the crossing turtles?

If you come across a turtle in the road, do your best to avoid running it over. If you feel like going the extra step, you can pull over, wait until it's a safe time to help, and move the turtle away from traffic yourself.

Institute members say, if you do move a turtle, make sure you move her into the direction she's going, not the direction she came from, or else she'll just turn back around into danger again.

Here's to a successful nesting season!