Dancing Turtle Rescue and Education Program, Inc.

Dancing Turtle Rescue and Education Program, Inc. Let's save turtles! Wild turtle rehabilitation, turtle education programs, and conservation-focused outreach in northeastern New York.

Support our work: https://dancingturtlerescue.org/donate At Dancing Turtle Rescue, we rescue, rehabilitate, and release turtles injured by cars, fishing gear, or dogs in Essex, Warren, and Saratoga counties. We are New York State Department of Environmental Conservation licensed wildlife rehabilitators. We specialize in native freshwater turtles, such as painted and snapping turtles, nonvenomous

snakes, frogs, and salamanders. If we have space and resources available, we also take in orphaned baby squirrels and opossums. If you find another species, please see the resources below to locate a rehabber. We love turtles and share that love through public education programs. Our ambassador turtles join us to introduce children, teens, and adults to the wonder of turtles and their wetland habitats. We bring our programs to schools, nature centers, scout meetings, senior centers, and many public events. Please contact us if you would like to learn more about our programs. Dancing Turtle occassionally rescues non-native turtles. These turtles are either former pets who were released into the wild and end up sick or injured, or pets that have been abandoned or neglected. Some of our rescues are available for adoption. If you are interested in adopting a turtle, please visit our website at www.dancingturtlerescue.org for more information. To find a wildlife rehabilitator near you:
Animal Help Now nationwide listings (recommended): ahnow.org or download the app

North Country Wild Care (northeastern NY): 518-964-6740

NYS DEC wildlife rehabilitator listings: https://www.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/sls_searches/index.cfm?p=live_rehab

This past week Debbie, our executive director, participated in the annual meeting of the Northeast region Partnership fo...
08/02/2026

This past week Debbie, our executive director, participated in the annual meeting of the Northeast region Partnership for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (NEPARC) at Paul Smiths College right here in the Adirondacks. Besides some fun things, like looking for frogs in vernal pools and meeting two amazing turtle detection dogs and their handlers, there were serious presentations about turtle conservation and the many challenges turtles face just trying to stay alive in their wild homes.

Debbie made some good connections with researchers and conservation professionals, and even a couple other wildlife rehabilitators, and joined the working group that is focused on creating and sharing educational materials with the public. Previous NEPARC projects include some of the coloring pages we provide for the kids at our programs and hopefully we will soon have more to choose from.

Many thanks to NEPARC for welcoming wildlife rehabilitators at their meeting and recognizing that we're all in this together. Let's save turtles!

08/01/2026

Breaking news! The first baby turtles of the year are hatching in our incubator right now!

These painted turtles came from eggs that were removed from a mom who sadly didn't make it by the wonderful vets at Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital and sent to us for incubation. They will eventually be released where mom was found to help support her population. Losing just one adult turtle can have a negative impact on an ecosystem, so we do all we can to help.

We really appreciate the veterinarians who help wildlife. Kay recently brought some snapping turtles for x-rays, includi...
08/01/2026

We really appreciate the veterinarians who help wildlife. Kay recently brought some snapping turtles for x-rays, including the biggest snapping turtle we've ever had as a patient. He weighs 60 pounds! He came in because he had been snagged with several fish hooks. The x-ray revealed he had what is likely the broken-off end of a fish hook lodged in his jaw, so he went out to the Swanson Wildlife Hospital in Ithaca, NY, to see if it could be removed. We want this big old man to be healthy and completely comfortable before he goes back to his pond.

Hello friend! It's me, Big Mama! I know I said I was leaving the socials to someone else but I wanted to hop on and tell...
07/30/2026

Hello friend! It's me, Big Mama! I know I said I was leaving the socials to someone else but I wanted to hop on and tell you how much I'm enjoying retirement. Delilah and I are sharing a big tank in Turtle Hall and keeping our eyes on the crazy youngsters. Next to us there's a tub with painted turtles who are supposed to be learning how to be educational ambassadors but mostly they are just goofy. I don't even know how many there are because they never sit still. Or swim still. I suppose they'll grow into the role.

Alright, I'm going back to basking. Have a beautiful day!

Would you like to help us help turtles? We are looking for volunteers! There are opportunities to support Dancing Turtle...
07/28/2026

Would you like to help us help turtles? We are looking for volunteers! There are opportunities to support Dancing Turtle's work from transportation to fundraising events to turtle care. If you are in Saratoga, Warren, Essex, Clinton, or Franklin counties in New York, please visit our website at https://zurl.co/XvdZx for more information and sign up to volunteer with Dancing Turtle!

We made a few upgrades to our program and event setups this year, including a new tub for Gordon, our snapping turtle am...
07/26/2026

We made a few upgrades to our program and event setups this year, including a new tub for Gordon, our snapping turtle ambassador, with a very secure lid. Gordon was a really good boy at the North Country Wild Care Gala, our first outing of the year, but on the way home he figured out how to open the lid to his travel tub and spent part of the ride climbing around the back of Debbie's car. 🙄

While we have a few programs booked between now and then, our next two public events aren't happening until August. We'll be at the Fairy and Magickal Creatures Festival in Elizabethtown, NY, on August 22nd, and we're returning to the Schroon Lake Farmers Market on August 29th. Maybe we'll see you at one!

07/25/2026

As busy as we've been with intakes, we've still managed to release some of our overwintered patients. Lee stayed with Debbie, healing a broken beak. A couple of weeks ago, Jen picked him up and brought him back to his home, where he was briefly reunited with the kind man who found him in the road. His finder was thrilled to be able to take part in his release. Stay safe out there, Lee!

There are too many snapping turtles to contain them all, but they are happy snoozing on the dog bed together so we let t...
07/24/2026

There are too many snapping turtles to contain them all, but they are happy snoozing on the dog bed together so we let them. These are just a few of the 50ish snapping turtles we have in care.

The education team is off this week so Hector is having a spa day.Find out more about our programs at https://dancingtur...
07/23/2026

The education team is off this week so Hector is having a spa day.

Find out more about our programs at https://dancingturtlerescue.org/education
Although we have filled our limited dates this year, it's not too early to start thinking about 2027. Our program year begins on April 15th. Pass the info on to your local school or library!

The outdoor wood turtle enclosure we built last year thanks to your support is in use again. We overwintered a beautiful...
07/22/2026

The outdoor wood turtle enclosure we built last year thanks to your support is in use again. We overwintered a beautiful wood turtle we named Earth. She's all healed up and will soon be ready to go home, but meanwhile she is enjoying the sunshine, rain, wood turtle salads, and earthworms that magically appear in there when she's not looking.

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On The Hill
Schroon Lake, NY

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