Phone WIRES if you find an injured wild animal on the road

The eastern long-necked turtle was found in the middle of the Oxley Highway near Walcha about 6.30pm on Sunday, November 5, by another passing driver.

He lived for 14 hours before he died only moments ahead of being assessed by a vet at the Tamworth Veterinary Hospital on Monday, November 6, about 8.30am.

"It was quite a significant shell fracture," veterinarian Dr Laura Smith said of the wild native reptile.

"That hard shell on the top of their body protects all of their vital organs, their lungs and their heart."

University of New England (UNE) Associate Professor Deborah Bower is among a few academics from across Australia working on the 1 Million Turtles project - designed to encourage communities to get involved in habitat construction and conservation.

She has urged drivers to be wary of turtles, especially near bridges, between dams and on rainy days, as they crawl out from their hiding spots in their attempts to cross roads during the nesting season.

"Even really aquatic species that might normally only ever stay in the river, will be coming out of the water during November to lay their eggs on the banks," Associate Professor Bower said.

"If you're out on a rainy day, be really aware, you've already got reduced visibility that you can see out of the car. So that's also when animals will move and turtles will be crossing the road."

Associate Professor Bower said if you see a turtle on the road, pick them up from the head and rear of their shell and put them on the side of the road in the direction they were walking.

"The eastern long-necked turtles, which are the ones that we see all around the New England crossing the road, they go on quite long migrations," she said.

"So they might have a home range of a few kilometres, and they'll be used to walking between different depths. They already know where they're going, they know where they are, just take them off the road."

But if they have an exposed wound, then phone wildlife rescue service WIRES, Associate Professor Bower said, and put the turtle in either a dry pillowcase or a box.

Turtles will be among the estimated millions of wildlife killed by vehicles on country and rural Australian roads this year, including kangaroos, koalas, wombats, possums, lizards and birds.

Veterinarian nurse Amber Kerr urged people to "slow down" and "pay attention" by also watching the sides of the road in regional areas where kangaroos often bound out in front of traffic, especially at dawn and dusk.

"If you come across an injured kangaroo on the road, and if it's safe to do so, pull over," Ms Kerr said. "If the kangaroo is already deceased, maybe check and see if there's a joey in the pouch."

She said astute drivers can keep an empty box with breathing holes, a dry pillowcase, gloves, hand sanitiser, and a bandage, in their car as a basic rescue kit.

*The observant driver who found the turtle named him 'Troy' which means "foot soldier".

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