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It's mating season for turtles, and as a protected species they deserve the respect the designation gives. And sometimes they need help across the road.

Zack LeClair, shift lead at Wild Heart Ranch, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation organization, said if a turtle is crossing the road, take it to the other side in the direction it was going. The ranch is located north of Claremore near Foyil.

"If you take them back to the way they came from, they will just turn around and go back," LeClair said.

Dan Hardt, husband of the director of the ranch and head volunteer, said turtles carry salmonella in their bodies and spread it everywhere they go.

"Sometimes even gonorrhea, the same type that humans contract, and are also filled with other bacterias, and people should wash their hands after helping one cross the road," Hardt said.

Hardt said the study from a "very prestigious university" stating a turtle can't be moved outside of a mile of where it was found is not true.

"What they did for that study is they took a bunch of turtles from Alabama, took them to the high-plains desert in Colorado and watched them wander until they died," Hardt said. "You take the turtles out of the swamps of Alabama, of course they are going to wander and die, because they are looking for water and grass."

By Oklahoma law, if a turtle is found that needs to be moved and is within the city limits of a town, the animal must be taken at least three miles outside city limits to be released, Hardt said. If found outside city limits, it can be helped across the road.

"Once you touch it, it has to be removed three miles outside of town; that is Oklahoma wildlife law, not mine," Hardt said. "Technically and legally if you touch that animal, you have the responsibility to do what the law states, and it states it has to be released no closer than three miles outside of the city limits."

Legally, a turtle can't be helped across the road if inside city limits, but outside city limits, they can, Hardt said.

Most common turtles in Oklahoma are red-eared sliders, which are invasive but protected; and box turtles and painted box turtles, which are both also protected.

"It's usually said they stick to a one-mile radius of where they are born, but I've learned that's not necessarily true," LeClair said. "They do move pretty slowly, but they tend to travel as they go and stick to water sources. But usually they will stick to that one-mile from where they are born."

If an injured turtle is found, LeClair said, bring it to a rehabber, since they are protected in Oklahoma. He said there are some rehabbers in the area around Tahlequah but no rehabilitation facility.

"We do a number of tests on them and make sure they pass the bubble test - which is to ensure their lungs aren't punctured," LeClair said. "Their shells have nerves on them. So if you run your fingers along their shell, they can feel that and a lot of turtles enjoy a toothbrush scrubbing its shell."

When the shell is injured and they've passed the bubble test, the wound is flushed with betadine or chlorhexidine, and if no bubbles come out, they patch it with moldable plastic.

"We patch with this sticky plastic stuff that holds the cracks together and paint it to match their shells so they are still hidden from predators, and when the shell grows together, it just pops off," LeClair said.

Though protected, there are provisions to hunt them year-round, provided no more than six turtles of each species are taken in a day,and they aren't shot in a federal reservoir. Land turtles may not be sold, according to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

The taking of the western chicken turtle, northern map turtle or alligator snapping turtle is prohibited, states the ODWC website.

"No aquatic turtles may be sold or purchased without the proper commercial turtle harvester or buyer's license and apply to the noncommercial harvest of turtles," states the ODWC site. "Separate regulations govern the commercial harvest of turtles."

Hardt said an injured turtle, even if a minor shell break and there is blood, cannot be released back out into the wild.

"Bring it to a rehabber or a veterinarian, because flies will get inside the shell and maggots will eat it from the inside out," Hardt said.

All animals are helped at the ranch, whether invasive or not - even feral pigs.

"We don't consider ourselves environmentalists but wildlife conservationists, and it's less of an issue of whether it's invasive - like right now I'm feeding European starlings, and while they are invasive species in Oklahoma. We don't believe that any animal deserves to die," LeClair said. "Our big motto is 'We all suffer the same.' We don't really look at them and say, 'You don't belong here,' we just help whoever needs help."