The story starts years ago, when Teddy was flipping through an Xplor Magazine. “I saw a picture of a snapping turtle and I loved it so much I cut it out and kept it,” Teddy said. “After that, I just had a really great love for turtles … One time I dug a hole in the garden, filled it with water, and apparently I was trying to get an alligator snapping turtle to come and live in it to be in my backyard.”
Fast forward a few years, and Teddy became the state president for an organization called Children of the American Revolution (CAR). Each state president is required to do a state project to raise funds and awareness, and Teddy chose helping turtles as his focus. He spent his one-year term visiting different local and statewide meetings of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), giving addresses to hundreds of people are a time and presenting programs about the turtles to the smaller local chapter meetings. He also sold merchandise, including a project pin that he designed himself featuring a turtle hugging the state of Missouri. He and his mom, Margaret Moll, also made turtle earrings to sell, which she fittingly wore to the zoo tour. “While I and a couple other adults coached him, set up the meetings and handled the logistics, Teddy did the hard work,” Margaret said.
Originally, he wanted to focus on the alligator snapping turtle, but he found out that they are technically imperiled, not endangered. “I had to open my horizons and saw three endangered turtles,” Teddy said. “I also added the alligator snapping turtle into the project because it was the original kickstart.” These three endangered turtles include the Blanding’s turtle, yellow mud turtle, and western chicken turtle. “The most endangered is the western chicken turtle,” Teddy said. “Earlier today, Jeff Briggler [Missouri’s State Herpetologist] said he’s only caught five in his life.” Jeff connected Teddy with Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation during his project and joined us at the zoo too.
Later in the day, Jeff took us all around the zoo’s hellbender conservation program. Hellbenders are the largest salamander in North America and a vital indicator of our waterways’ health. When Jeff started the hellbender conservation program in 2001, he estimated that there were 2000 hellbenders in the wild. Now, they’ve released over 13,000 in streams throughout Missouri. Seeing the behind the scenes of what saving an endangered species looks like was an amazing example of what donors like Teddy can help make possible. Afterwards, Teddy got to hold an endangered baby turtle in a full circle moment!
One of our favorite parts of the job is meeting donors like Teddy, who work so hard to give back to the nature and wildlife they love. “I just really love the outdoors and hope to help, hope to help it as best I can. I do want to be a herpetologist when I grow up. Jeff Briggler’s a state herpetologist. That’s my dream job.”
We’re confident you’ll achieve your dreams, Teddy, and we’re proud to be a small part in your journey. Thank you so much for donating to help Missouri turtles!
