We drained the pond, which takes several hours. The next day we drove it down to one of the freshwater ponds near Priest's Landing on Skidaway Island, and released it without incident. The number of turtles in our pond fluctuates. When we have rainstorms, the rise in water level can give the larger turtles access to an escape route. Those turtles that have been residing here for awhile don't generally take it.
Turtles can pop up at any time in every way.
We have a lot of people bring us injured turtles from the road. We've even found a turtle caught in a ditch next door on the Institute's property. My favorite delivery was when someone dropped off a turtle in our pond, and that person called a few days later to let us know about it. Until the phone call, we had absolutely no idea a new turtle had arrived. It spent its days hiding under the bridge.