Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Woodland Box Turtle

What happens when wildlife encounters the chemicals we put on our lawns?

This Woodland Box Turtle arrived at the Center with severely irritated eyes, discharge from his eyes and nose, and ulcerations inside his mouth. These are all signs we commonly see with upper respiratory infections in turtles, and initially, this appeared to be a fairly typical case.

But then the finders shared a critical piece of information: they had recently applied Moss Out Granules to the lawn where the turtle was found.

The product’s own safety data sheet warns that it can cause serious eye irritation, skin irritation, and harm if swallowed. It even recommends protective clothing, gloves, and eye protection when handling the product.

Unfortunately, this turtle wasn’t issued safety goggles before wandering through someone’s lawn.

His symptoms were consistent with chemical exposure rather than a typical respiratory infection, and that information made all the difference in his treatment.

With extensive flushing, water soaks, and anti-inflammatory medications, this turtle made a full recovery in just a few days!

That’s considerably faster than the recovery we’d expect from many of the respiratory infections we routinely treat.

While we strongly discourage using chemical lawn treatments in areas shared with wildlife, we’re incredibly grateful to the people who rescued this turtle.

They recognized something was wrong, got him help, and, most importantly, told us about the recent chemical application. That information allowed our veterinary team to provide appropriate care quickly.

But this case raises a bigger question: Why are we working so hard to maintain lawns that offer so little to wildlife?

Traditional turfgrass lawns are essentially biodiversity deserts.

Unlike native plant communities, these monocultures provide very little of the food, shelter, and habitat our native wildlife need to survive. And to maintain that perfectly manicured appearance, many homeowners apply fertilizers, herbicides, mossicides, and other chemicals that can harm wildlife and contaminate our waterways.

Think about that. We remove the native plants that support wildlife, replace them with grass that offers little ecological value, and then apply chemicals to keep that grass looking the way we want.

At what cost?

If your lawn requires constant maintenance, chemical treatments, and the removal of native vegetation to thrive, perhaps that patch of land was never meant to be a traditional lawn in the first place.

We encourage homeowners to replace turfgrass with native plants wherever possible. Native plant landscapes can require less maintenance once established, reduce the need for chemical treatments, and provide essential habitat for birds, pollinators, turtles, and countless other species.

And if replacing your lawn isn’t an option, simply reducing chemical use is a meaningful step toward protecting the wildlife that shares your property.

Keeping wildlife alive and healthy should always be a higher priority than keeping your grass a specific shade of green.

Looking for an easy way to help native wildlife? Become a monthly BRWC donor! For as little as $5/month, you can provide year-round, sustainable support that helps us fulfill our mission.