Animal protection officers with the Boulder Police Department recently helped stranded baby snapping turtles safely reach a lake near U.S. 36 and Table Mesa Drive.

According to the Boulder Police Department’s Facebook post, last year, animal protection officers worked with a community member to place signs in an apartment complex to protect the area around a known snapping turtle nest.

This year, at the same apartments, another clutch of eggs had been laid.

Boulder Police Department animal protection officers helped safely relocate many of these baby turtles after they had gotten stuck in a stairwell on their way to the lake, according to the post.

Animal Protection Supervisor Jennie Whittle for the Boulder Police Department assisted last year in placing signage where turtle eggs had been laid.

“A citizen had called us after seeing a female turtle laying eggs in her nest on the playground, and they made their own sign to guard the area,” said Whittle. “We were able to find a traffic cone and printed a sign to help. We were not notified they hatched, so either they were sneaky or didn’t quite make it.”

Whittle added that animal protection officers are cautious to place signs near animal habitats but that this was a special case due to its proximity to a playground.

“We sometimes hesitate to draw more attention to the area by placing signs, but since it was at the playground last year, we felt there was a high chance of accidentally being disturbed and took the risk to mark it off,” said Whittle. “We were thrilled to hear that another turtle was able to be successful this year.”

This year, officers were unsure of how many eggs were laid and never found the actual nest, according to Whittle.

However, Whittle said that the first responding animal protection officer located about 25 hatchlings and a resident called a short time later reporting about 20 more.

“The resident helped the second group get to the water. On a subsequent trip, animal protection officers located another handful of hatchlings making their way to the lake,” said Whittle. “We expedited their trip and ensured they made it safely to water — there was a hungry crane watching nearby.”

Police are not releasing the exact location of the nest and the lake to help protect the turtles.

Whittle specified that a group of turtles is called a bale.

“As an ‘80s child, I imagined the babies soon turning into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but none showed any promising martial arts skills nor had colorful bandanas stashed in their shells,” Whittle said.