Turtle Conservancy News and Program Updates
The Turtle Conservancy is proud to be a part of the Wildlife Confiscations Network in southern California, just launched by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The network is a pilot program of AZA’s Wildlife Trafficking Alliance that provides a coordinated response for the care and wellbeing of wildlife confiscated from illegal trade…
The global trade in wild animals has produced the conditions for disastrous and deadly pandemics, including COVID-19. To prevent the next pandemic, the Coalition to End the Trade is calling for the permanent end to the commercial trade and sale in markets of terrestrial animals (particularly birds and mammals), especially for consumption. Global Wildlife Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and WildAid are launching this coalition to implement key strategies that seek to end this trade…
The Turtle Conservancy continues to assist the US Fish and Wildlife Service in triage management of confiscated turtles and tortoises from the illegal wildlife trade. In total, the Turtle Conservancy has taken in over 100 animals in 2018. The majority of which are U.S. species being exported to Asia…
As previously reported, 10,976 Critically Endangered Radiated tortoises were discovered in Toliara, a town on the southwestern coast of Madagascar. Authorities received complaints of a disturbing smell of death and excrement coming from a two-story house. Upon inspection, thousands of juvenile tortoises occupied the floors, sinks, and bathtubs. They had no food, no water and were lying in their own waste. Over 500 were already dead…
The Turtle Conservancy works alongside the US Fish and Wildlife Service to help facilitate law enforcement and seizures of illegally traded turtles and tortoises. When live turtles and tortoises are confiscated in and around Los Angeles International Airport, the TC offers free accommodations for these homeless travelers, some of whom originate halfway around the world in places like Southeast Asia.
Operation Jungle Book, a law enforcement initiative led by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service that targeted wildlife smuggling, has resulted in federal criminal charges against 16 defendants who allegedly participated in the illegal importation and/or transportation of numerous animal species – including a tiger, monitor lizards, cobras, Asian “lucky” fish, turtles, exotic songbirds and several coral species…
