Turtle races are often seen as harmless tradition — a nostalgic piece of Americana. But the reality at the Lincoln County Fair in Troy, Missouri tells a different story. After years of attempts to work privately and professionally with organizers to improve conditions, it has become clear that meaningful reform is not possible.

The Turtle Conservation Group (TCG) has successfully partnered with other events to make wildlife activities safer and educational. However, repeated efforts to help the Lincoln County Fair adopt basic conservation standards were rejected. Because of this, we are now calling for the race to end.

Why This Event Must End

• Severe Heat Stress: Multiple turtles have been documented foaming at the mouth — a sign of extreme overheating. This occurs when body temperatures approach dangerous levels, as animals attempt last-ditch cooling before organ failure can begin.
  
  
• Disease Risk and Overcrowding: Turtles are crowded together in buckets and containers, creating ideal conditions for the spread of pathogens such as Ranavirus and Mycoplasma. When these turtles are later returned to the wild, diseases can spread into native populations.
  
  
• Abandonment and Displacement: Unwanted turtles have been discarded in a vehicle bed without any plan for returning them to their original capture locations, and the organizers have refused to provide basic instructions for participants to return their turtle to its "home range". Box turtles depend on their home range – usually just several acres –  to survive, and displacement greatly increases mortality.
  
  
• Use of Rare Species: Locally rare Ornate Box Turtles — a distinct species from the more common Three-toed Box Turtle — are regularly brought to the event, placing added pressure on vulnerable populations.
  
  
• Encouragement of Illegal Collection: Organizers have repeatedly encouraged collecting turtles from Cuivre River State Park, where removal of wildlife is prohibited.
• Population-Level Harm: About 130 box turtles a year are collected for the race. Box turtles require high adult survival rates to maintain stable populations. Even small increases in adult mortality caused by recreational collecting can push populations past a tipping point toward long-term decline.
• Frog Jumping Contest Adds Additional Risk: The fair also hosts a frog jumping contest alongside the turtle race. Combining amphibians and reptiles in the same event creates a potential “super-spreader” environment for Ranavirus — a deadly, untreatable disease capable of moving between frogs and turtles through shared water or handling. Injured and dead frogs have already been observed at the event.
  
  This Is Not About Ending Tradition — It Is About Ending Harm

Traditions can and should evolve when we learn they cause unnecessary suffering or ecological damage. Wildlife should not be collected, stressed, injured, or exposed to disease for entertainment.

After years of ignored warnings and failed attempts at cooperation, the responsible path forward is clear.

We Are Calling On the Lincoln County Fair To:

• End the turtle race
• End the frog jumping contest
• Replace these events with educational, conservation-based activities that do not harm wildlife

Please sign this petition to help protect Missouri’s native turtles and frogs.