Yearly Rescue Statistics

Have you wondered just how many turtles and tortoises our rescue has taken in and tried to help in a year? Well, if you aren't sitting down, you might want to! The numbers are even surprising to us! Most of these cases were due to being hit while the turtles tried to cross a road. Please slow down and move turtles to safety when you can. Your donations, participation in our fundraisers, and sponsorships are how we can help this many turtles and tortoises. Without your support, we simply couldn't afford to help these animals. From the bottom of our hearts - Thank You!

2024 Statistics

During 2024, the Central MS Turtle Rescue was all but closed due to the cancer diagnosis of our director, Christy. Only a handful of turtles were rescued in 2024. Christy is now cancer-free and we are excited to be fully open and back to normal for 2025!

2023 Statistics

Total number of turtles/tortoises taken in 2023: 580
  • Died in Care: 106
  • Euthanized: 15
  • Dead on Arrival: 146 (includes eggs that did not hatch)
  • Adopted: 5
  • Released: 219
  • Transferred: 31​

Survival Rate
  • Includes the first 24 hours (includes Dead-on-Arrival, Died within 24 Hours, and Euthanized within 24 Hours, and Voided Non-Viable Eggs:
    72.22%
  • After the first 24 hours:
          82.54%​​

2022 Statistics

Total number of turtles/tortoises taken in 2022: 512
  • Died in Care: 87
  • Euthanized: 7
  • Dead on Arrival: 143 (includes eggs that did not hatch)
  • Adopted: 5
  • Released: 123
  • Transferred: 7​

Survival Rate
  • Includes the first 24 hours (includes Dead-on-Arrival, Died within 24 Hours, and Euthanized within 24 Hours, and Voided Non-Viable Eggs:
    74.46%
  • After the first 24 hours:
          85.09%​​

​2021 Statistics

Total number of turtles/tortoises taken in 2021: 455
  • Died in Care: 71
  • Euthanized: 10
  • Dead on Arrival: 90 (includes eggs that did not hatch)
  • Adopted: 24
  • Released: 237
  • Transferred: 3 ​

Survival Rate
  • Includes the first 24 hours (includes Dead-on-Arrival, Died within 24 Hours, and Euthanized within 24 Hours, and Voided Non-Viable Eggs:
    77.75%
  • After the first 24 hours:
          86.28%

2020 Statistics

Total number of turtles/tortoises taken in 2020: 588  (another increase from the year before!)
  • Died in Care: 87
  • Euthanized: 17
  • Dead on Arrival: 
  • Adopted: 24
  • Released: 204
  • Transferred: 7
  • ​Void/Non-Viable Egg: 
  • Non-Releasable: 
  • To be released in spring 2019: 

2019 Statistics

Total number of turtles/tortoises taken in 2019: 489 (another increase from the year before!)
  • Died in Care: 66
  • Euthanized: 18
  • Dead on Arrival: 10
  • Adopted: 20
  • Released: 120
  • Transferred: 3
  • ​Void/Non-Viable Egg: 108
  • Non-Releasable: 20
  • To be released in spring 2019: 124
Survival Rate
  • Includes the first 24 hours (includes Dead-on-Arrival, Died within 24 Hours, and Euthanized within 24 Hours, and Voided Non-Viable Eggs:
    61.46%
  • After the first 24 hours:
          88.58%
Species (The most common type of turtle in our care in 2019 were box turtles. We took in 209 Eastern, Three Toed, and Gulf Coast Box Turtles.)
  • ​Alabama Cooters: 9
  • River Cooters: 64
  • Musks: 4
  • Mud Turtles: 11
  • Alligator snappers: 4
  • Common snappers: 32
  • Eastern Box: 3
  • Three Toed Box: 78
  • Gulf Coast Box: 127​​
  • Hybrid Box (T.c.c. x T c. t.) : 1
  • Gopher Tortoise: 13
  • Chicken Turtle: 1
  • Red Eared Sliders (RES): 114
  • Yellow Bellied Sliders (YBS): 3
  • Redfoot Tortoise: 2
  • Hermann's Tortoise: 1
  • Russian Tortoise: 2
  • Sulcata Tortoise: 3
  • ​Reeves' Turtle: 4
  • Western Painted Turtle: 1
  • Unknown (Mystery Eggs): 12
Miscellaneous Stats:
  • Of the 489 turtles in care this year, 22 were listed/protected species (including Gopher Tortoises and Alabama Redbelly Cooters).
  • Off the 489, there were 126 Females, 172 Males, and 191 of unknown gender due to their young age. ​​

2018 Statistics

Total number of turtles/tortoises taken in 2018: 433 (over THREE times more than 2017!)
Died in Care: 41
Euthanized: 16
Adopted: 46
Released: 94
Transferred: 20
​Void/Non-Viable Egg: 73
Non-Releasable: 31
To be released in spring 2019: 112

Off those 433, there were 110 Females, 114 Males, and 209 of unknown gender due to their young age. ​
Species (There were a total of 211 box turtles, accounting for almost half of all 2018 intakes!)
  • ​Cooters: 40
  • Musks: 2
  • Mud Turtles: 3
  • Alligator snappers: 3
  • Common snappers: 11
  • Eastern Box: 7
  • Three Toed Box: 104
  • Gulf Coast Box: 100​​
  • Gopher Tortoise: 11​
  • Softshell: 20
  • Diamondback terrapin (DBT): 5
  • Maps: 4
  • Red Eared Sliders (RES): 111
  • Yellow Bellied Sliders (YBS): 7​
  • Redfoot Tortoise: 4
  • West African Mud: 1

2017 Statistics

Total number of turtles/tortoises taken in, 2017: 139
Died in Care: 26
Euthanized: 6
Adopted: 13
Released: 26
Non-Releasable: 37
To be released in spring 2018: 31

Of those 139, there were 68 Females, 52 Males, and 19 of unknown gender due to their young age. 
Species (There was a total of 58 box turtles!)
  • Cooters: 14 (including 2 endangered)
  • Musks: 3
  • Alligator snappers: 1
  • Common snappers: 3
  • Eastern Box: 5
  • Three Toed Box: 29
  • Gulf Coast Box: 23​
  • Ornate Box: 1​
  • Gopher tortoise: 2
​​​
  • Diamondback terrapin (DBT): 16
  • Muds: 1
  • Maps: 2
  • Red Eared Sliders (RES): 35
  • Sulcata: 1
  • Russian Tortoise: 1
  • African Helmeted: 1
  • West African Mud: 1