STAR TELEGRAM (Fort Worth, Texas) 27 January 01 Fort Worth: The Asian turtle crisis is not about Ninja Turtles. If it were, the turtles might stand a fighting chance. Turtles in China and Southeast Asia are being harvested in staggering numbers, to the point of extinction, scientists said Friday at a three-day international conference on saving Asian turtles hosted by the Fort Worth Zoo. Nearly every one of the 280 species of turtles -- from small, cute varieties that sit on logs and paddle in creeks, to the old, lumbering tortoises that creep across the desert sands -- is being collected and sold for food or medicine or as a pet, the scientists said. It is the turtles in Asia that suffer the most. Of 90 Asian turtle species, 67 are threatened with extinction. The Asian slaughter is being driven by 1.2 billion people in China who prefer traditional food and medicine over fast food and antibiotics, said John Behler, curator of herpetology at the Bronx Zoo in New York. "Tens of tons of live turtles are shipped daily to the major markets of China," Behler said. "Turtles were used historically in relatively small numbers. Now, it has become a focused, thorough harvest. They are becoming functionally extinct, unable to breed effectively." With China's natural resources dwindling and trade opportunities growing after 1990, turtles have been "vacuumed" off the lands of China's neighbors, especially in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, Behler said. A collection network has been established and there are smuggling routes through Burma, he said. "The problem is a cultural one that will not go away quickly. We believe the Chinese will continue to use turtles until they go extinct," said Dr. Anders Rhodin, director of the Massachussetts-based Chelonian Research Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to worldwide turtle research and conservation. A 6-inch golden coin turtle weighing about a pound can sell for up to $1,000, Rhodin said. It is believed that eating the ground-up turtle can cure cancer. Chinese athletes credited their Olympic success to eating turtle jelly, which is a paste made of turtles, and to drinking turtle blood concoctions, he said. Tucking head and limbs inside a shell is not an adequate turtle defense. "Wild turtle populations will be wiped off the face of the Earth in a couple of decades," Rhodin said. He encourages limiting the trade of wild animals while promoting the commercial production and farming of animals. U.S. turtles, some of them grown on farms, are legally shipped to China. Few laws exist in the United States governing the import and export of nonendangered turtle species other than minimum size restrictions, said Bruce Weissgold, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service policy analyst. Red-eared slider turtles are extensively farmed and several million are exported annually, he said. "The turtle problem is a reliable sample of the disasters we're facing," said Ulie Seal, conference facilitator, who travels the world helping scientists organize their strategies for saving endangered species. In fact, some wildlife biologists and botanists estimate that two of every three kinds of plants and animals could disappear from the Earth within 100 years. Hundreds of species become extinct for every new one that emerges, a rate that approximates the rate 65 million years ago when dinosaurs disappeared, some scientists say. With the Earth's population expected to increase from 6 billion to 8 billion by 2025, as much as 60 percent of the biologically available energy will be used to maintain human life, Seal said. "There is a dramatic decline in living space for other biological systems," he said. Many conference participants said they favor establishing captive breeding programs to preserve species, without jeopardizing wild populations. The goal is not to eliminate the trade but to preserve the native turtle populations, they said. Even so, it may not be possible to reintroduce some turtle species in the wild, because many species are not able to "live in a degraded landscape," Seal said. |
**************************************************************** Talk of the Town: Let's hear it for the turtles! Sometimes when traffic is bad, cars travel at about the rate of turtles. I heard of one situation that occurred last week when traffic on East-West Boulevard in Millersville wasn't moving as fast -- make that as slowly -- as a turtle. Many area people have seen box turtles crossing the roads in recent weeks and some have been crushed under the wheels of uncaring drivers. One woman that did care about the well-being of the turtles, which are emigrating to nesting places at this time of the year, demonstrated her convictions by stopping traffic on the busy East-West Boulevard to save a turtle she saw crossing the highway. The woman stopped her vehicle in a traffic lane, got out and bravely held up her hand in the traditional "stop" signal. Oncoming cars did stop. So did the drivers that saw her as she stepped out to signal traffic coming from the other direction. You would think drivers would be raising Cain about being brought to a complete stop on so busy a thoroughfare. But that didn't happen. The woman walked in front of the stopped cars, picked up the orange-splashed box turtle and took it to the side of the road to which it was going. As she walked back to her car, many of the drivers got out of their cars and gave her a rousing ovation. It was an act of kindness that isn't seen very often these days, but one that was obviously appreciated even by those who were imposed upon by her passion. A spokesman at Noah's Ark Wildlife Center on Lake Drive in Pasadena explained that this is the nesting season for the turtles and recommended that anyone wont to rescue the harmless reptiles should simply take them off the roads in the direction they are going. That is best for the turtles. It's great to know that some people are so concerned with the welfare of the animals as the woman that stopped traffic to accomplish her goal. And that her endeavor was so appreciated by so many others that might have gotten angry at "the crazy woman" saving a turtle. |
**************************************************************** Exports Threaten Freshwater Turtle. (Muddassir Rizvi) Islamabad: Freshwater turtles in Pakistan are threatened a s the government promotes their export, ignoring international obligations, to feed East Asian palates, say conservationists. The government is accused of letting commercial interests prevail over environmental concerns and even keeping its own wildlife conservation wing in the dark. While conservation officials say they do not know of such a trade, commerce officials say turtle exporters are being offered incentives to step up their business. According to wildlife experts, the turtle exports violate Pakistan's obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). "Freshwater turtles in Pakistan are at risk...the government should ban their trade," said Fakhar Abbas, who is specializing in wildlife conservation. Pakistan has at least eight freshwater turtle and two tortoise species, which are found in the Punjab and North West Frontier provinces. The spotted pond turtle, crowned river turtle and Afghan tortoise are some well known species, which are included in the IUCN Red Data Book's List of Internationally Threatened Species. Freshwater turtles have become a "hot export item" say media reports, with Pakistani exporters having orders worth millions of U.S. dollars from South-east and East Asian countries. "The bulk of turtle exports are destined for Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan," said an official at the government's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). "With EPB's intervention, the government has recently removed export duty on turtle exports," the official added. Local entrepreneurs in northern Punjab realized the export value of freshwater turtles in the early 1990s when workers of South Korean company 'Daewoo' came there to build a six-lane highway. Turtle export has now become a major industry. Many locals have taken up turtle catching as a full time job, working for various exporters for rated as low as Rs 15 (20 U.S.cents) per catch. According to media reports, exporters can earn 2.5 dollars for a baby turtle. Turtle leather and shell are also in demand, but the main value is the meat, which is considered a delicacy. However, the government's National Council for Wildlife Conservation (NCCW), is ignorant of the turtle exports from Pakistan. ''We are not aware of any such trade, neither have we issued any No Objection Certificate for the export of turtles to any private party,'' said a deputy conservator at the NCCW. The NCCW official confirmed that Pakistan cannot allow turtle trade in any form because of CITES. ''A no objection certificate from NCCW is necessary before any private party trade in wildlife,'' he said. Pakistan, along with other Asian nations, is also under pressure from the West to save the turtle. Four years ago, the country was one of 48 nations, which faced a U.S. embargo on their shrimp exports. The United States argued that every year more than 125,000 turtles die because shrimp trawlers inadvertently haul in turtles. Because of this, few turtles can survive till the age of reproduction. In 1998, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Thailand successfully challenged the U.S. trade ban in the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) Dispute Settlement Body. These countries pleaded they had several conservation programmes that included the collection and incubation of turtle eggs and the release of baby sea turtles. India, Pakistan and Thailand also maintained that their cultures embraced a traditional belief that it was sinful to kill sea turtles. However, Pakistani conservationists say that while Pakistan may have taken steps for sea turtle conservation, nothing has been done to save the freshwater species, which is found in the country's canals, numerous lakes and rivers. They advise setting up of turtle farms, without which freshwater turtle s would soon disappear from the country. The government has not even carried out a freshwater turtle census, they say. According to wildlife expert Umeed Khalid, who works with the NCCW, none of the wildlife conservation laws in Pakistan's provinces, where turtles are found, provide protection to turtles. Environmentalists say that Pakistan should review its conservation laws in the light of the country's international obligations. "Unless we learn to respect our environmental obligations, the official promises of sustainable development will remain hollow," said Abbas. |
**************************************************************** Alligator snapping turtle: Big, ugly, tasty -- and endangered? NEW ORLEANS -- It's a marvelously ugly beast, with spiked and ridged armor, a sharply hooked beak, a fishing lure in its mouth and a nasty bite. The alligator snapping turtle's hard shell holds tasty flesh. Many experts worry that turtle soup will wipe out North America's biggest freshwater turtle unless Louisiana, the animal's main turf, protects it. That doesn't appear likely any time soon. It's a common belief that restaurants use farm-raised alligator snappers, also known as loggerheads and, in Louisiana, cowans. Turtle farmers say that just doesn't happen. "A person couldn't raise alligator snappers for meat and make any money. They grow too slow," said James Randleas of Randleas Turtle Farm in Jacksonville, Ark. The turtle can grow to 200 pounds and live for more than 70 years. By the time they're old enough to breed at about age 13, they're just getting big enough to slaughter, with a weight of 25 to 30 pounds. Randleas said his father used to sell wild-caught snappers for meat. Now he raises loggerheads and sells hatchlings overseas or for scientific or educational use. He lists them at $30 to $50 for single turtles, depending on size, wholesale prices negotiated. With six ponds filled with turtles, he figures he sold 10,000 last year. Randleas' sales figure sounds incredible for a beast which several international groups say is in trouble and which an American Zoo Association committee says is one of three turtles most in need of help. In addition to chefs and other predators, loggerheads' perils include pollution, dredging, dams and development. Mercury and dioxin pollute most Louisiana waterways. Dredging kills turtles where they live, at the bottoms of ponds and slow streams. Dams keep them from swimming upriver. Farmland and development have sliced away habitat. Louisiana wildlife officials say their studies show the reptile does not need any protecting. While the 12 other states in the turtle's range all have laws to protect it, it is not on the federal threatened or endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering adding alligator snappers to the international list of species which may not be exported. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists them as vulnerable, a species that may soon become endangered if nothing is done. Yet in Louisiana, state wildlife officials say cowans are doing fine on their own. Jeff Boundy of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, who ran a program to learn how many are in Louisiana, said they don't need protection and he won't recommend it. Over five years, Boundy said, trappers caught, weighed, measured and tagged about 500 alligator snappers around the state. Most significantly, he said, the trappers found about the same numbers in wildlife reserves as in areas where turtles were caught for market. Alligator snappers spend most of their time in the muck at the bottom of ponds and slow streams, surfacing only to breathe, breed and get a bite to eat. Many people think the turtles are carnivores, and they do have a wiggly worm-like lure in their mouths, which helps attract fish. A study of 65 slaughtered in 1986 found that vegetation made up two-thirds of their stomach contents. More than half was acorns. John Richards, who created the Alligator Snapper Foundation to raise loggerheads in Strafford, Mo., rejects Boundy's optimism. "There's no doubt that four-fifths of your turtles -- your alligator snappers -- are gone," he says vehemently. "This animal has a lot of factors working against it that weren't working against it 30 or 40 years ago." Ironically, that includes the Endangered Species Act. When the act became law in the early 1970s, it became illegal to catch sea turtles for their meat. Mock turtle soup went on menus around town, with meat from a substitute reptile, or even a mammal. "They would use alligator or pork, grind it up, and use it the same way. It tastes very similar," said David Gooch, a member of the family that owns New Orleans' renowned Galatoire's Restaurant. When the giant freshwater turtles went into the pot, the result could once again be called turtle instead of mock turtle soup. By 1993, when Arkansas made it illegal to catch loggerheads or take their eggs, they could not be found at all in many Arkansas lakes and streams, said Len Pitcock, spokesman for the state Game and Fish Commission. They now seem to be recovering in Arkansas. Biologist Kelly Irwin said limited trapping last year turned up younger animals, indicating that they are reproducing. Mike Harrell, who has caught about 200 in North Louisiana over the past two years, agrees with Boundy that Louisiana holds far more alligator snapping turtles than most researchers think. They still need help, he says. He's doing what he can, putting money he makes working nights into a "head start" project to raise hatchlings for release once they are big enough to have a good chance of surviving. The adults he catches are parent stock. He has not yet released any, but said the number of hatchlings rose from hundreds in his first two years to a couple thousand this year. In the wild, most eggs and most hatchlings get eaten by raccoons, 'possums and other predators. If a turtle lays 25 eggs, an average wild clutch, one hatchling may make it through a year in the wild. In the meantime, he's feeding the turtles about 700 pounds of fish a week, fish that commercial fishermen would otherwise throw back, and whatever water plants he sees choking local waterways. "Those turtles are one of the few things out there that are really eating it," he said. "I can throw it in the water and in just a day they'll have eaten every bit of it. I can throw in a truckload and they'll eat it all." |