GRASONVILLE -- The last time 8-year-old Angus Walbeck encountered a turtle like this one, he named him Oddball.

Yesterday, as the governor, other politicians, scientists, teachers and pupils gathered along Prospect Bay to announce new turtle preservation efforts, the rising third-grader ran into what must have been Son of Oddball.

The squirming diamondback terrapin set its cream and bluish-speckled legs to flailing furiously. But unlike a dozen or so of its cousins, who set out on a made-for-the-media dash to freedom, Son of Oddball refused to get with the program.

Instead, the recalcitrant reptile -- raised in captivity by schoolchildren like all the others -- did an about face in the water and headed straight back to shore.

When last seen, Angus was gently nudging Son of Oddball into the warm, sandy beach that provides an ideal habitat for Maryland's official state reptile.

Yesterday's release was timed to focus attention on state plans for protecting terrapins in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and renewing efforts to preserve their habitat.

"There's no question that across the state, sprawl and development are destroying terrapin habitat," said Gov. Parris N. Glendening, standing on a shoreline where 35 terrapin nests have been found. "Shoreline erosion controls and development have wreaked havoc on the terrapin population."

Losing nests

Although baby terrapins are described as "potato chips" for gulls and other predators such as raccoons and foxes, the real threat, said Department of Natural Resources officials, is from the loss of sandy beaches that are crucial nesting areas for terrapins.

"There's a link between the loss of near-shore aquatic habitat and land use," said Jill Stevenson, deputy director of DNR's fisheries service.

With little information available on the number of terrapins in the bay, state officials have begun a nesting survey with the U.S. Geological Survey.

As many as seven distinct subspecies reside in this hemisphere, Stevenson said, so it is important to document whether terrapins living in Tangier Sound are the same as those in other parts of the bay. Much of the research, she said, is being paid for with $320,000 in federal grants.

State officials have launched a voluntary network of terrapin sanctuaries where property owners report nesting sites, then mark them with signs provided by the natural resources department.

Environmental officials are also urging the use of turtle-safe eel pots similar to crab pots commonly used that allow terrapins to escape before drowning.

'Fear the Turtle'

In what Glendening described as the first program of its kind in the country, University of Maryland officials have agreed to donate a portion of sales from their "Fear the Turtle" merchandise to terrapin protection programs -- a fitting gesture to the real-life version of the university's terrapin mascot.

Sales of T-shirts and other merchandise took off as the football team earned a trip to the Orange Bowl and the men's basketball team won a national championship.

"We're not sure how much it will generate. We've never tried anything like it," said Brian Darmody, the university's vice president for research and economic development. "A lot will depend on the continued success of our football and basketball teams. It might also get a boost because it helps support an environmental cause."

For Soraya Sajadian, a zoology major from Annapolis, the Fear the Turtle campaign has paid off -- part of her stipend will be paid by the fund -- making her the first summer intern to work in the terrapin restoration effort.

"I'll be working on the beach surveys, tagging. Later, I can mentor in the schools and with kids on the Internet," said Sajadian, a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. "I'm not sure yet whether I'll go on to veterinary school, but either way, this is a great experience."