Endangered Turtles Vanish into Asian Cooking Pots

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http://ens-news.com/ens/may2003/2003-05-15-01.asp

 

Endangered Turtles Vanish into Asian Cooking Pots

 

WASHINGTON, DC, May 15, 2003 (ENS) - The belief that

soup and jelly made from the Chinese three-striped box

turtle can cure cancer has reduced populations of this

species to a few remnants in Northern Vietnam and

China. Tons of live turtles of various species are

imported each day to southern China from the Southeast

Asia region, with more than 10 million individual

turtles traded each year.

 

In Indonesia, the Sulawesi forest turtle is already

critically endangered after being known to science for

less than 10 years.

 

This pattern of threats to the world's turtles is

documented by the Turtle Conservation Fund (TCF),

which today released its first list of the World's Top

25 Most Endangered Turtles to highlight the survival

crisis facing these animals. At least 200 of the 300

living species of tortoises and freshwater turtles are

threatened and require conservation action, the

organization warns.

 

" With nine of the world's turtle species and

subspecies having already become extinct at the hands

of modern man, and fully two-thirds of the remaining

species under great threat, we have a crisis that

needs to be addressed immediately, " said Anders

Rhodin, director of the Chelonian Research Foundation,

chair of the TCF and co-chair of the World

Conservation Union Species Survival Commission's

(IUCN/SSC) Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist

Group.

" The collaborative efforts of the Turtle Conservation

Fund and its alliance partner organizations and quick

implementation of an effective conservation action

plan can help ensure their long term survival, " Rhodin

said.

 

The TCF list focuses on 25 species at highest risk.

The list is based on the World Conservation Union's

(IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, as well as

general consensus between TCF's three partner

organizations - the Center For Applied Biodiversity

Science at Conservation International, The Tortoise

and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, and the

IUCN/SSC Turtle Survival Alliance.

 

" Many of the critically endangered species are at

great risk of going extinct within the next 20 years

unless we take immediate action, " said Kurt Buhlmann,

Conservation International's director for the Center

for Applied Biodiversity Science Turtle Program, and

executive director for the Turtle Conservation Fund.

 

" The Turtle Conservation Fund is a strategic

partnership that combines the strengths of our

organizations and will enable us to act quickly to

avoid further extinctions and ensure sustainable

populations of wild species, " Buhlmann said.

 

The harvest of turtles to meet demand from the Asian

food and traditional medicine market has wiped out

natural populations near the consumer source in China.

More than half of Asia's 90 turtle species are

endangered or critically endangered, the expert group

warned.

Harvesters have reached into the surrounding Southeast

Asian regions and are now beginning to impact turtles

in North America, Africa, and Europe, according to the

Turtle Conservation Fund.

 

Other threats include development, habitat destruction

and fragmentation, and unregulated pet trade

collection.

 

Turtles are also affected by other human activities,

such as invasive alien species, chemical and hormonal

pollution, gradual global warming, and various

illnesses due to introduced pathogens, such as the

upper respiratory tract disease affecting North

American desert tortoises.

 

Twelve species on the Top 25 list survive in Asia, two

species are in South Africa, three in Madagascar, one

in the Mediterranean, two in Australia, two in South

America, one in Mesoamerica, and two in the United

States.

 

Twenty-one of the 25 endangered turtles species occur

in 11 of the world's 25 biodiversity hotspots - areas

which house the greatest number of species yet face

the most severe threats.

 

The turtles' survival will depend on adequate

protection of these hotspots where small populations

still remain - Indo-Burma, Sundaland, the Philippines,

Wallacea, Succulent Karoo, Cape Floristic Region,

Madagascar & Indian Ocean Islands, Mediterranean

Basin, Southwestern Australia, Choco-Darien-Western

Ecuador, and Mesoamerica.

" Turtles have been around since before many dinosaurs

walked the planet and have survived relatively

unchanged for about 250 million years, " said

Conservation International president Russell

Mittermeier. " But mankind's actions have brought them

to the brink of extinction. It's our responsibility to

bring them back. "

 

In order to implement its five year Global Action Plan

to conserve these endangered species, the TCF intends

to raise an estimated $5.6 million.

 

Plans include trade regulation enforcement, an

increase in illegal trade confiscations, and captive

breeding using turtles confiscated from smugglers.

 

Ecologically sound turtle farming for commercial

purposes to lessen pressures on wild populations is

supported under the TCF plan.

 

Some endangered turtles will be relocated and returned

to their countries of origin.

 

TCF plans include further field research, development

of country support for trade monitoring, establishment

of rescue centers, and sustainable harvest programs,

public outreach and educational programs,

 

Experts will identify and establish of protected areas

that take tortoises and freshwater turtles into

consideration.

 

" While the Turtle Conservation Fund plan offers a

glimmer of hope to some of the world's most endangered

turtles, for some, it is already too late, " said Rick

Hudson, co-chair of the IUCN Turtle Survival Alliance,

and a member of the Steering Committee of the TFTSG.

 

" Unless urgent conservation action is taken, many more

species may go the way of Lonesome George, " he said,

referring to the sole surviving Galapagos Abingdon

Island tortoise. As the last of his species, George is

destined to remain a bachelor for the rest of his life

- about another 100 years.

 

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2003. All

Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

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