If you picked up a turtle in the wild, please get in touch with us and we will help you determine the next steps. We have the proper licensing and are actively working with NH Fish and Game to develop protocols for disease testing to determine release candidacy for wild turtles kept in captivity, so we willalways accept the New Hampshire state-listed species of turtle (Blanding's turtles, Wood turtles, Spotted turtles, Eastern Box turtles). However, turtles being taken from the wild and kept as pets is a very common situation and we do not have the quarantine space to take the non-listed species (Painted turtles, Snapping turtles, Musk turtles) kept in captivity at this time since we've found this situation is incredibly common.

Please never take turtles from the wild. There are many reasons why that turtle may be non-releasable and re-releasing them always risks native populations. It is critical to the long-term health of a population that turtles not be taken from the wild. Seeour resource on why to keep wild turtles wildfor more information. That being said, we deal with plenty of situations where the person did not realize they shouldn't do so or misunderstood aspects of the natural history and thought they were doing the best thing for that turtle, and we are not here to judge. We are happy to work with you to determine the best path forward for that turtle.