BALTIMORE, Md. — The turtles that hang out on the Harbor Point campus of the Living Classrooms Foundation, in a spot now known as "Turtle Island," aren't just a crowd favorite among the young students here. A lot of people who live and work around Harbor East have grown to adore their reptilian neighbors too.
So much so, that during a Thursday news conference when city and state officials provided an update on the efforts to clean up the 2,000 gallon diesel fuel spill, a Harbor East resident came to the microphone with this question:
"I know this is home to Turtle Island. There's a lot of turtles over here, and I always see a lot of ducks over here, um, so the wildlife is important to me because it's one of the many things that I enjoy about this neighborhood. What are those efforts looking like to protect the wildlife here?"
He received good news. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has been on top of it.
Maryland DNR continues to assist with rescuing wildlife at the scene of the Baltimore harbor oil spill. We have rescued geese, ducks and other birds as well as turtles from the affected area.#DNRatwork pic.twitter.com/aJg3NO8EHD
— Maryland DNR (@MarylandDNR) June 5, 2025
"We've been working to do two things. One is to move animals that have not been impacted by the spill into safe areas," Josh Kurtz, Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources, said on Thursday afternoon.
The second, is to rescue the animals that were impacted and take them to Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, a wildlife rehab facility in Delaware.
Hear from officials describing the care being given to wildlife impacted by diesel oil spill
A total of 25 birds - both geese and ducks - and 3 turtles were rescued. The turtles were only taken to assess the health of the turtle population in the area.
"The good thing about turtles is they actually can really sense changes in the environment and they will move away from, from poor water quality. They can also get underneath things like oil, so we rescued those three to assess their health. They were in very good health," Kurtz said.
"It was really sad. The geese were covered. You couldn't even see their paws, they were just completely covered in oil, their wings, and the turtles as well, the turtles were huddling together on a log," Dr. Denise Villaran Zariquiey, principal of the Crossroads School operated by Living Classrooms, told WMAR-2 News.
The school had to cancel classes Thursday and Friday due to the lingering smell of diesel fuel.
Dr. Zariquiey said, thanks to the quick action by DNR and Tri-State, she's not concerned about the long-term health impacts to the animals.
"Some animals could have not made it, so time was definitely of the essence when it happened," she said. "All of the efforts have been absolutely amazing."
She's not sure when the animals will be able to return to campus.
"I hope soon, because we're so used to seeing them all over our campus every single day. Our students love seeing the baby geese and the baby turtles come across our our grassway here."
She does hope students will return to school on Monday.