My neighbour is a great guy, helpful and friendly. He has a few quirks — don’t we all? — and one of them is a fascination with turtles. Which is fine, I love turtles as well.

And it never mattered, until recently. I was overseas for three weeks and when I returned my neighbour came racing over to tell me that while I was away, his grandkids had discovered a turtle in our front garden. I was a bit surprised since I don’t live very close to water and I’ve never seen a turtle on my property.

But it was a cute story, and I was happy they got to see a turtle up close. That should have been the end, but now my neighbour is constantly on my property, rooting around in the garden in search of the turtle. I’ve tried to explain that the chances of a turtle surviving for weeks away from water, in a neighbourhood populated by coyotes and foxes, are almost nil.

But he can’t accept that, and he keeps stepping onto my lawn and digging around in my garden. I don’t want to call it trespassing, but it’s gone well past the stage of ‘annoying but harmless.’ How can I get him to back off without hurting his feelings? Neighbours .

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they can really be a pain. But they can also be a lifeline, a friend, a comfort. Seeing as it’s nearing the end of October, it’s doubtful any turtle will be hanging around your garden.

From my research, I discovered that Ontario turtles hibernate at the bottoms of ponds, lakes or deep in the mud. Further research revealed that unlike other co.