Rescue planned for world's most endangered turtles
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 13, 2012
The Wildlife Conservation Society announced Wednesday that it would "take direct responsibility" for the survival of some of the world's most endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles.
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Painted terrapin, Batagur borneoensis, male from Perak, Malaysia, in breeding color. |
So many of these animals are being collected, traded, eaten and used for medicine that they are being pushed into extinction. In addition, their habitats are being fragmented, destroyed, developed, and polluted.
Based at New York's Bronx Zoo, the Wildlife Conservation Society has developed a new strategy to prevent the extinction of at least half of the species in a 2011 report by WCS and other groups that lists the world's 25 most endangered turtles and tortoises.
Four top-priority Critically Endangered species will be protected first, says WCS, which plans to reduce the numbers of turtles caught for the commercial trade and reduce the numbers of aquatic turtles that die by drowning in fishing nets.
The four species are: the Burmese starred tortoise, Geochelone platynota, the Burmese roofed turtle, Batagur trivittata, the Southern River terrapin, Batagur affinis, and the Central American river turtle, Dermatemys mawii.
The organization plans to safeguard the endangered turtles by working with governments to react rapidly in nations that are centers of turtle diversity, such as Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam.
"WCS is a leading organization in the development of comprehensive strategies that combine field and zoo conservation to save this major taxonomic group from an extinction crisis," said Dr. Steve Sanderson, WCS president and chief executive. "We have the expertise in our parks, in our health program, and in our global conservation field program to meet this challenge."
Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society, the nonprofit opened the Bronx Zoo to the public in November 1899. Its success led WCS to acquire four more wildlife parks during the 20th century: the Central Park Zoo, the Queens Zoo, the Prospect Park Zoo and the New York Aquarium.
To ensure survival of the endangered turtles and tortoises, WCS will use its four zoos and aquarium, its global wildlife health program, and its conservation field programs.
WCS will breed and reintroduce some species and and protect others with field work. For another group of species, the scientists will develop assurance colonies, captive groups of animals maintained so that no genetic diversity is lost.
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