What is that slow moving creature on the road?
Summerstown ON – That slow moving shelled creature is probably one of the 8 out of 9 species of turtles in Ontario which are on the species at risk of extinction list.
Yes Folks….please reread this sentence again. This is due to our own lack of respect to the habitat required for the turtles to live a peaceful healthy existence. As of 2008, the Snapping Turtle, which is often seen nesting in the gravel shoulders of our roads, was placed on this list.
We are fortunate to live in an area of the province which is rich in water habitat. Activity increases around these areas from May until September. Populations have declined where roadways intersect wetlands due to road kill.
Our wetland areas sustain a diverse animal population (including us) with clean water. Please do keep an eye out for the slow-moving turtle and the other wildlife which has to cross roadways to find their nesting or feeding grounds in our wetland areas. Should a turtle be spotted on the road in your travels, please do lend them a hand in getting them to the other side of the road by putting them on the side of the road in the direction they were heading.
The snapping turtle may try to bite (this is their only defense as they cannot hide in their shells) so consider pulling the back part of the shell onto your car matt before moving it to the side of the road they were going. (This works well, I have first-hand experience.) A turtle’s shell will not withstand the weight of a car on its shell nor will it stay alive with a cracked shell. There is a network of caring knowledgeable people in Eastern Ontario who are ready to nurse an injured turtle back to health.
Please visit www.turtleshelltortue.org (click emergency on menu) to familiarize yourself with the best practices for looking after an injured turtle and the network of volunteers available 24/7. This organization is a registered Canadian charitable organization dedicated to turtles.
Do take note of the area where the turtle was found so that they can be returned to their community when healed. Your consideration, help and respect will help to insure healthy populations of turtles for generations to come. Please proceed with caution in areas indicated by the Turtle Crossing signs. These signs indicate high activity areas.
These signs were made possible through the caring and generosity of The Cornwall & District Environment Committee, The South Glengarry Environment Committee, SDG County Roads Department, TD Friends of the Environment, Cornwall Electric, Catherine Ledevin, McKay Line Pole and the non profit Canadian organization Turtle Shell Tortue. Questions concerning turtles or Turtle Crossing Signs can be directed to Katherine Beehler of The Raison Region Conservation Authority; Katherine.Beehler@rrca.on.ca or 613-938-3611.
Your commentary concerning this article is encouraged and welcome.
Jacqueline Milner: I wonder if she cares for the unborn as she does the snapping turtle?
Why, are unborn babies going extinct too? Or do they just need help crossing the road?
There’s probably a bible passage that says saving turtles is sinful, and turtle lovers will burn in hell.
Well, I suppose it would be a major sin to abort unborn snapping turtles… I mean seriously Pastor Tom? You have to use a story about Snapping Turtle population to launch a crack at someone? You’re getting desperate…
I found the passage….
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all the turtle lovers among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly turtle rescuers have spoken against him”(Jude 14-15).
I wonder, is it still considered abortion if the turtles lay their eggs in the first place? I mean, the eggs kind of need to abort themselves to hatch.. Oh wait, I understand now, since turtles abort their eggs, I guess that sends them to eternal damnation.. I guess they weren’t created under god’s eyes.. oh wait, yes they were, the sun had to be around then too…
I guess we’ll just have to wait for the pastor to come back and splain it all to us.
Come on you all! Some care more about the killing of seals, turtles, and saving all those extinct species, etc. rather then saving the unborn from abortion. Get it?
Why are many countries in a negative birth rate? Abortion for one! Also, as we have allowed no fault divorce and co-habitation out side of marriage, and such has brought destruction to the family and to our traditional Christian family values . Immigration is up, birth rate is down, and our Canadian culture is slowly being replaced. Such moral issues are put on the back burner (or even ignored), while we spin our wheels trying to save the snapping turtle! Get It?
Tom as much as you may think some people don’t get it, perhaps you don’t always get it? After all man-made things are fallible, but things created divinely are in fact…..devine.
What right do we as a human have over that of a turtle? We both are born, and we both have this life. Yes, I know that different people believe different things (please don’t start offering me scripture) but the point is that it’s not wrong for someone to care about a turtle.
People that believe in a Woman’s right to abortion will point out that crime rates in places that allow legal abortion are lower and sometimes nature creates environments that urge population growth or decrease it.
Perhaps we in the West have polluted over abused our planet to the point where God or Nature has created a scenario where we naturally bring down the population for the betterment of our planet? Yes, your bible may say “Be Fruitful and Multiply”, but I’m sure it wasn’t meant to to the point of infinity. Look at nearby Detroit. Ugly tracts of dilapidated city are now being turned into green spaces. While some shudder at this I think it’s nature’s way of balancing things out and nature could be perceived in many ways including the path and will of God.
My point is not to engage in a religious argument with you. My question is why pick on anyone trying to do any good on our planet and saving a turtle surely isn’t a bad thing?
You love the pulpit. I see you at events. You want so hard for people to accept your choices; why not simply respect theirs too? There’s room on this planet for Turtles and Sinners.
But snapping turtles are more important Tom. They keep our godly planet’s rivers and streams clean, etc. Many countries have a negative birth rate most likely because the planet is realizing it needs some sort of population control. I have no children yet, and its not because of abortion, nor my religious values. And quite frankly, this was a story about completely losing yet another creature on this planet to extinction. The human race (as self destructive as it is) is far from being extinct or going extinct.
And on another note, why do people require marriage to show their love for each other? Again, its all a form of control to say they require to do this. I have taken the guidelines of trying to lead a better life from different religious/cultural viewpoints as well as books. Lesson learned already, I don’t need marriage to affirm that or lead any better life afterwards. I don’t know about anyone else of course. Obviously you seem to feel the need for this, I don’t know why..
It really is amazing how someone can take ONE interpretation of only ONE book, and base his whole life around that one source. It’s also rather arrogant, and a little stupid, to expect everyone else on the planet to accept that limited view as “The Truth”.
Mr. Newton…firstly the article was not just about the snapping turtle, but about the 8 of 9 Ontario species of turtles which are on the species at risk list. Of course I care about the unborn…my care and concern extends to all living creatures that share this world with us and the generations that we leave this world to.
Well Furtz, you have to admit, it was written like that exactly for that… control of the masses… for he is truly independent, whom doth not letteth the book control them.. and that would just be wrong now right?
Grimalot, That’s why I’m a devout Pastafarian. I kinda like the “whatever” philosophy. We never get bent out of shape over other peoples sexuality or beliefs. We also get to dress up and talk like pirates, and drink beer. We can even save turtles, which I do regularly at this time of year.
All Hail (or whoever wants to) The Flying Spaghetti Monster!!!
Arrrrmen
Jacqueline: That is good that you care for all living creatures that share this world. Is your care based upon evolution or creation? Pantheism or Jehovah God?
Pastor Tom – You sure have a one track mind. Try to think about more than one thing at a time. That is what smart people can do. I recommend that you broaden your reading materials beyond your particular bible … of which, much is fiction..
Pastor Tom, you seem to be a bible-reading man and therefore you will agree that insects were the first living things on the Earth, followed by the amphibians, reptiles and mammals. You will remember the passage “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:24-25).
On Day 6 God created all the land animals and creatures. Why did He not create all the animal life on Day 5? Land creatures, according to our reading, must be of a higher order than marine life and birds. These creatures are categorised as “cattle, creeping thing(s), and beasts of the earth.” The term ‘cattle’ probably indicates all kinds of domesticable animals; ‘beasts’ refers to the large wild animals (including dinosaurs), and ‘creeping thing’ includes amphibians, small mammals, and all the insects and bugs that live on and in the ground. These three classifications of land animals are based upon their relation to man’s interests:-
1. Cattle; the animals (e.g., sheep, cows, and horses) in this category would be domesticated by man.
2. Beasts; animals that live wild and cannot be (fully) domesticated (e.g., lions, elephants, and reptiles).
3. Creeping things; all the creepy-crawlies we dislike, plus frogs, moles, rates and mice.
The Genesis list is far simpler than modern-day classification systems (taxonomy) for it places each group according to its importance to man. There may be some crossing of the groups, such as is the case with the elephant, but the fact remains that the elephant is still essentially a wild animal.
The land animals were ‘brought forth’ out of the ground. This means that their bodies were composed of the same elements found in the earth. When they died they would return to the earth (dust) from which they were created. Created Simultaneously, theistic-evolutionists try to correlate the evolutionary order with that of Genesis 1:24-25, but it cannot be done. According to evolution, the order of appearance (over millions of years) is, insects, then amphibians, then reptiles, then all mammals.) In fact it places amphibians, reptiles and insects before birds, but Genesis reveals that God created the fowl on Day 5. God’s order was mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects. This is only a basic order since they were made simultaneously (or within a few hours according to earth time).
It Was Good
There was no evolutionary struggle for existence as Charles Darwin and his followers suggest. Their ‘Survival of the Fittest’ is simply a rejection of the plain description of the facts presented to us in Genesis. Any fight to be the leading creature on the evolutionary scale cannot be seen as ‘good.’ God made everything perfect, meaning nothing can be improved upon, and that one kind did not evolve into a different kind. Each ‘kind’ was declared ‘good’ by God. Those who believe that God used evolution are actually guilty of calling God a liar … “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). Conclusion: the world was now totally ready for the next part of God’s creation on Day 6, the entrance of man. It did not take billions of years to get to this stage, God created and prepared everything in six literal days consisting of twenty-four hours each. He did not even have to take six days, but He did so for two reasons:-
1. To stress the order and logical relationship between each part of creation.
2. To provide man with a pattern for a six-day working week.
So you asked “who is more important, the snapping turtles or man?” The turtles were created before man, according to the Good Book, so I submit that they would therefore be more important to God as he created them before man. Does this make sense Pastor Tom?.
Be careful here, Jacqueline. If you believe in the evolution theory, you will rightfully go to hell.
Oh Lord, let our hearts be open to share in a ministry of, by, and for all creatures, great and small. Let none of us (except Pastor Tom) think of ourselves as living on a level so far above our fellow creatures that we forget our kinship with the lowliest in your creation, and let none of us think of ourselves as so lowly that we have not the faith to wait upon the Lord, to renew our strength, to mount up with wings like eagles. Amen
“Pastor Tom Newton says:
April 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Jacqueline: That is good that you care for all living creatures that share this world. Is your care based upon evolution or creation? Pantheism or Jehovah God?”
The world is alive, we are alive, the animals are alive (for now), how does evolution or creationism make a difference? We’re here, we’re here, we’re born to die, that is the ultimate truth. May as well have a good time along that road pastor…
Grimalot writes – “We’re here, we’re here, we’re born to die, that is the ultimate truth. The word of God declares – Heb 9:27 “And as it is reserved to men once to die, and after this, Judgment”.
If it is evolution, don’t worry about it, but if it is creation (which it is), all that live and die without the atoning work of God’s Son being applied to their account will face certain judgment.
“And I saw a Great White Throne, and the One sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled; and a place was not found for them. And I saw the dead, the small and the great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead in it. And death and hell gave up the dead in them. And they were each judged according to their works. And death and hell were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire” (Rev. 20:11-15).
I think the pastor is reaching out for help. I truly hope someone close to him will keep an eye on him.
“Pastor Tom Newton says:
If it is evolution, don’t worry about it, but if it is creation (which it is), all that live and die without the atoning work of God’s Son being applied to their account will face certain judgment.”
I see God’s Sun every day, it rises in the east and sets in the west. Feels warm to the skin too.
““And I saw a Great White Throne, and the One sitting on it,”
I also use the great white throne every morning. And quite miraculously, I am also sitting on it. They’re talking about me.. awesome.. 😉
Antipasta : Good work, but you missed the main point of the Genesis account – man, Adam was made in the likeness and image of God – “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”. (Gen 1:26 – 28).
Man was made last as the crown and glory of God’s creation. He saved the best for last. Turtles are not made in the likeness and image of God, nor were turtles given dominion, Adam was – “…and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”.
Adam acted as the vice – regent – God’s representative on earth. So who is greater in authority and worth? One who is made in God’s likeness and image and who has been given right to rule, or a turtle? Maybe if the turtles were related to the Mutant Ninja turtles!
Also, the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross not to redeem turtles (animals), but sinners – mankind. We are not animals (evolution), though we act like them sometimes.
Well, I’m hip to judgments. I’m not real big on the lake of fire thing, sounds harsh. I can’t give you any stronger advice in the world then to smoke a big fat joint while reading The Book of Revelations. Three big fat joints. A lot of theological students benefit from that kind of exercise. It brings them closer to our God that created it to celebrate his beauty and marvel at his meaning. Have you seen 4:20? You know up until the anti-christ took over the church around the 1400’s the Sabbath was on Saturday and priests had wives. Did you say you had or had not googled ‘Loose Change Video’?