Looking at the Amphibian Pond today I noticed what I thought at first was the smaller of the two painted turtles, basking on a log. Something looked a bit odd though, so I looked through my binoculars and was surprised to see a Red-eared slider! This species occurs in the southern US but not in Canada. However, it is commonly sold in the pet trade, but unfortunately, when the cute little baby turtle gets big people decide they no longer want it. This is when the turtle if it is lucky, I guess, gets dumped into a pond or wetland somewhere. It looks like someone deposited their pet turtle here. It is strikingly similar to the painted turtle. I put in this photo of the painted turtle taken today as an excuse to talk about the slider as I couldn't get a photo of it.