DEKALB, Ill. (AP) – Scientists with Northern Illinois University say an endangered Blanding’s turtle that they’ve been tracking for about two years has gone missing from the Afton Forest Preserve. Al Roloff is natural resource manager with the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District. He says a local farmer pulled off the antenna used to track the turtle when it recently wandered about two miles off the reserve. He says the farmer thought he was doing a good deed, but his actions ended the connection.
A laboratory coordinator for the biology department says locating the turtle without its antenna would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle reports that Blanding’s turtles grow nearly a foot long and have distinct yellow undersides. The species is endangered in Illinois.