The protection plan that I would create for the Box turtle would be an awareness plan to make sure that the inhabitants of the area were the box turtles live are aware of how box turtles live and also know how they can do their part. The awareness plan will educate people that “Box turtles rarely bite, but be gentle with them and avoid touching their head” (biodavidson, 2014). Usually when people are made aware of a problem and are provided a solution they usually comply, especially when they value something. The box turtle; in a lot of areas is taken in by families as a pet. Most people probably think that when they take them as pets they are doing them a favor but when they take them out of their habitat they are actually stressing them out to the point were they cannot reproduce most of the time. The action plan would be to educate everyone, the young preschoolers, elementary, middle school and high school students to be well aware of what type of habitat that the box turtles should live in as well as what type of care box turtles need.
The action plan education plan would explain the importance of not taking box turtles as pets, never to release box turtles back into the wild unless the person knows exactly were in the wild the box turtle came from, explain the importance of letting the box turtle cross the road or helping the turtle cross, by picking it up and helping it cross to the other side. Explain that if a box turtle nests in a persons yard, the people should not pick up the eggs. That they can build a cage so that the eggs are protected as it may take several months for the eggs to hatch.

Then once people are educated they will understand that the box turtles are not supposed to be taken out of their habitat and that they should be left there and that it is better for the box turtles if they are just left alone, we would ask them not take them into their house. The second part of the action plan would be to create a study to save box turtles. This study would include asking people to bring the box turtles to the lab when they capture them; so that the box turtles can be marked and returned close to the place were they were found within a day or two. I believe that the most important part of the protection plan is the awareness, without it then people will think that it is okay to take the box turtles out of the wilderness and into their homes. When people are educated about the box turtles they will do better.

References

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?A=2723&Q=416520 What you can do to save box turtles. Retrieved from
http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/midorcas/research/contribute/box%20turtle/whatyoudo.htm