Turtles have turned up sick and dead at this North Texas lake. What's going on?

Faith Zabriskie and her neighbors, known as the “duck ladies,” spend their early mornings and evenings walking around the Boys Ranch Park lake and making sure the turtles and other animals aren’t caught in fish nets or eating bread and other foods that are bad for them.

Earlier this month, Zabriskie and her neighbors were doing what they normally do and became alarmed when they found several turtles flipped onto their backs, a sign of distress.

Zabriskie said she and her neighbors pulled five dead turtles out of the lake and took them to a veterinarian, but didn’t request an autopsy because “we didn’t have the authority to do so,” she said.

Zabriskie, who has lived near the Boys Ranch lake for 18 years, said that when improvements were made to the lake three years ago, the construction disrupted the ecosystem and she realized it would take a while for it to be restored.

But she is concerned about the turtles and what she says is an overabundance of algae in the water.

Zabriskie said she used strips for testing swimming pool water and saw that the algae levels were at a level 9, which is unhealthy.

“We don’t want to bash anybody. We want to validate our information. We do have a problem with people throwing their hotdogs, burgers and candy into the lake,” she said.

Zabriskie took her concerns about the turtles and algae to the city, and submitted open records requests for autopsies of the dead turtles.

Natalie Foster, a city spokeswoman, said employees took several bloated turtles to an emergency animal clinic in Southlake.

“They (turtles) were eating food that was unnatural for them. They were eating food put out for the ducks. These turtles were getting sick from eating bread and corn,” she said.

Foster said she is not aware of any dead turtles.

She added that there is an ordinance against feeding the wildlife at the Boys Ranch Lake and said that feeding them bread and corn causes other problems.

Bedford hired Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Sam Kieschnick to do an assessment of the lake, and in a June 20 letter to the city, he said he saw a healthy amount of “aquatic vegetation” to support the turtles and other wildlife. He also wrote that the ordinance prohibiting feeding wildlife at the Boys Ranch has led to a healthy, sustainable number of Canada geese and other water fowl.

He also documented eight species of dragonflies, another indicator of a healthy environment for the animals.

Big makeover at Boys Ranch Park

Three years ago, the Boys Ranch Park lake was dredged as part of a complete makeover that included increasing the depth of the lake to improve drainage and lining the channel with stone. Other improvements included getting rid of an island that led to a buildup of silt and other waste, and replacing it with a fountain, building three bridges, picnic areas, a playground and a disc golf course.

The project was paid for with a $3.2 million bond package that voters approved in 2013. The lake improvements were the first phase to improve the Boys Ranch Park which is a destination for residents and visitors alike.

Last fall, voters also approved a $70 million bond package called Phase Next which will fund projects including a multigenerational activity center along with ballfields and other amenities at the park.

Meanwhile, Zabriskie said she is glad that the city is taking her concerns to heart. She pointed out other problems that will be fixed including adding a sidewalk from one of the pavilions to a grill so that it complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Yet she still wants answers.

“The doors are open. The walls are down and conversations are taking place,” she said.

Bus she added, “We are still not comfortable with the vague answers we are getting. ... If we can’t handle what we’ve already got, how can we handle something three times bigger” — meaning the Phase Next project, she said.

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 7:05 AM with the headline "Turtles have turned up sick and dead at this North Texas lake. What's going on?."