At first glance, the tranquil Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden pond reflects inconspicuous ducks floating on the water’s surface. Look a little closer, and you’ll start to notice little heads poking out all around — those are red-eared sliders, turtles that moved in after being illegally dumped by pet owners years ago. Now, their population is estimated at more than 200, a number that isn’t sustainable for the pond’s ecosystem. Last week, Santa Barbara city park officials removed about 86 of the turtles to Turtle and Tortoise Rescue in Arroyo Grande, a sanctuary that’s much more well equipped to house the turtles and find them homes.
Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden was completed in 1976, after an anonymous donor purchased the property and donated it to the city, with the stipulation that it be made into a free public park. In adherence with the requests of Alice Park, the nearly five-acre city block was created to be a horticultural garden, with a focus on Santa’s Barbara’s native plants. More than 70 species of trees and plants, a butterfly garden, and a manmade koi pond have made this garden one of the most popular destinations downtown. There’s just one thing that wasn’t in the plans — hundreds of turtles.
Over the past decade, the turtles have slowly but surely taken over the pond; the original koi and aquatic plants are long gone, pushed out by the invasive red-eared sliders. Jeff Hobbs, who operates Turtle and Tortoise Rescue, explained the disruptive nature of the species: “Red-eared sliders are mostly female and are near constantly producing hard-shelled eggs which have a higher rate of survival. They’re also a pretty aggressive turtle and will bite and rip koi fish and other turtles, whereas the native western pond turtle is quite submissive — [the sliders] push out the other species through sheer population and domination.” The western pond turtle is now on the endangered species list, a product of the overabundance of red-eared sliders abandoned by pet owners — which is a misdemeanor in California.
