Smuggled rare Ploughshare tortoises go on display for first time in UK – via Herp Digest

February 25, 2017, BBCA 

The ploughshare tortoises were handed to Chester Zoo in 2012 after being confiscated by Hong Kong customs officials in 2009.

Regarded as the most threatened species of tortoise, say zoo bosses, they are native to Madagascar.

Dr Gerardo Garcia, of the zoo, said they were the "jewel in the crown of the reptile world".

Prized for their distinctive gold and black shells, they fetch "exceptionally high prices on the international black market", a spokesman said.

Efforts to steal the animals are so relentless there may only be 500 left, making it one of the rarest animals in the world, he added.

Dr Garcia said there was a "very real possibility the species could be lost forever due to illegal trafficking for the exotic pet trade".

"Most of these illegally exported tortoises are sold in markets in South East Asia," he explained.

The quartet were part of a shipment of 13 being smuggled from Madagascar and will form part of the European Breeding Programme for the species.

They are going on display at the zoo to raise awareness of the illegal exotic pet trade.

Worth £15bn ($19bn) a year, it is the fourth biggest international crime after drugs, arms and human trafficking, a zoo spokesman said.

2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

Trafficking of Critically Endangered Madagascar tortoises raging out of control

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,000 individual tortoises have been seized from would-be smugglers 

May 2013. Illegal trafficking of two critically endangered tortoise species from Madagascar has reached epidemic proportions, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Turtle Survival Alliance, Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership, Turtle Conservancy, Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund and other groups who urge authorities to clamp down on wildlife smuggling before some species are collected out of existence. 

According to the groups, more than 1,000 radiated and ploughshare tortoises have been confiscated from smugglers in the first three months of 2013 alone. In late March, 54 ploughshare tortoises made it as far as Thailand before being seized by authorities. A recent report by TRAFFIC states that the radiated tortoise is now the most common tortoise for sale in Bangkok's infamous Chatuchak wildlife market. 

Huge increase in smuggling

The groups say that since the beginning of Madagascar's continuing political crisis in 2009, smuggling has increased by at least ten-fold due to weak governance and rule-of-law. In addition, erosion of cultural protection of the tortoises for short term monetary gain has contributed to their sharp decline. In the past, tortoises were protected by "fady" - a local belief that harming the tortoises is taboo. However, with years of drought and increasing levels of poverty, people from regions outside the tortoise's natural range, who do not practice these types of fady, are capturing and illegally selling tortoises. 

Iconic species

"These tortoises are truly one of Madagascar's most iconic species," said James Deutsch, WCS Executive Director for Africa Programs. "This level of exploitation is unsustainable. Unless immediate action is taken to better protect the wild populations, their extinction is imminent." 

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/madagascar-tortoise-traffic.html

Man presumptuously kidnaps 13 percent of an entire turtle species - via Herp Digest

By Sarah Miller, Gristlist 3/28/13

Tell me you wouldn’t steal 13 percent of the living population of these guys.

There are only 400 — that’s 400, a number you can count to in less than five minutes — turtles in the whole entire world that can call themselves Astrochelys yniphora, or ploughshare turtles (if turtles could speak, or could in fact do anything other than eat lettuce with stupid expressions on their faces). So naturally, since humans are perhaps even dumber than how dumb turtles look eating, a man took it upon himself to try to smuggle 54 of these turtles through the Bangkok airport. That’s 13 percent of the ploughshare turtles in the world.

The man seems to have been in cahoots with a woman who traveled from Madagascar to Thailand with the turtles. She brought them in, he picked them up, and, just in case later on you want to cast the movie Stupid Turtle Stealers at some point, she is 25 and he is 38.

(Editor- The number is false. Their have always been a small population of ploughsare tortoises due to their specific habitat needs) There used to be millions of ploughshare turtles, which are found only in Madagascar. But people are really into them, because they’re neat looking, so their numbers have dwindled over time to the now rather remarkable and depressing number of 400. This is partly the fault of the pet trade, which is where these 54 turtles were headed — which is good news, because it means they were alive when authorities found them. They must be shipped back to Madagascar as quickly as possible since the Thai climate is not ideal for them and also since each one of their lives is considered very precious. We are thinking of you, little turtles. You can make it.

Largest ever seizure of Critically Endangered Ploughshare Tortoises made in Thailand

Hundreds of protected tortoises found at Bangkok Airport

March 2013. Just a day after the close a global wildlife trade conference here in Bangkok, authorities at Suvarnabhumi International Airport made two big seizures, discovering hundreds of threatened tortoises and apprehending two smugglers. Among the tortoises seized were some of the rarest in the world.

Authorities arrested a 38-year-old Thai man as he was attempting to collect a bag containing tortoises from Madagascar, from a luggage carousel, at the airport. The bag was registered to a 25-year-old woman who had flown from Madagascar to Bangkok via Nairobi the same day.

54 Ploughshare tortoises and 21 Radiated Tortoises
Royal Thai Customs officers and their counterparts in the CITES management authority found 54 Ploughshare Tortoises and 21 Radiated Tortoises Astrochelys radiata, both of which are assessed as being Critically Endangered.

Critically Endangered
Ploughshare and Radiated Tortoises are endemic to Madagascar, totally protected in the country and are both listed in CITES Appendix I. The wild population of Ploughshare Tortoises, considered among the rarest species in the world, is estimated to be as few as 400 individuals, and is declining fast.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bangkok-tortoises.html

Rescued ploughshare tortoises start first European breeding programme

Safety net population to ensure Ploughshare survival

August 2012. Conservationists are launching the first European breeding programme for ploughshare tortoises in an attempt to create a vital safety net population of the Critically Endangered animals.

Ploughshare tortoises are already being kept in captivity in America, where 20 animals are registered within three institutions, but it is the first time that they are being coordinated to form a breeding population in Europe. It follows a boom in the Asian pet trade, where ploughshares are being sold illegally for high prices, raising further concern for the future of the species.

The ploughshare tortoise is one of the most threatened species on the planet and until now, conservation efforts have focused on saving the species in its home range in Madagascar and protecting its native habitat, where Durrell began working with the species in 1986.

13 tortoises seized in Hong Kong
To start the European breeding programme, 13 rescued tortoises have been brought to three respected zoological institutions. Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey, Chester Zoo and Rotterdam Zoo are each receiving some of the animals, which were part of shipments that were seized by the Hong Kong government in 2009 and 2010.

Matthias Goetz, Head of Durrell's Herpetology Department, said: "Thankfully the rescued tortoises were given to the Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden (KFBG) wild animal rescue centre, which took great care of them and started working with international partners to identify new homes for the animals. Along with the other two European institutions, Durrell is delighted to be receiving some of the tortoises and playing a part in a new captive breeding programme which aims to save these beautiful creatures from extinction."

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ploughshare-breeding.html

Critically Endangered tortoises, raised in captivity, breed in the wild for the first time

Durrell reaches crucial milestone in the battle to save the rarest tortoise in the world

April 2012. The discovery of two baby ploughshare tortoises born in the wild to parents bred in  Durrell's conservation breeding programme provides hope that despite huge challenges the fight to save the world's rarest tortoise can be won.

There are probably as few as 500 adult ploughshare tortoises, or angonoka in Malagasy, left in their natural range, the bamboo scrub of Baly Bay in north-western Madagascar. Historically the main pressures on the ploughshare were habitat loss and introduced species, but in recent years the rise in poaching for the illegal pet trade outside of Madagascar has threatened to send the angonoka to extinction.

Durrell has been working for 25 years to save this species by reducing pressures to the remaining wild population and its habitat. Early successes included the establishment of Baly Bay National Park and the empowerment of local communities to protect habitat from bushfires. A core component of Durrell's efforts was the establishment of a captive breeding programme that would act both a safety net and the basis for a reintroduction programme.

Breeding programme
The breeding programme has been a great success but it takes a long time for tortoises to reach an age when they can be released back to the wild. First trial releases began in 1998 into an area of bamboo scrub habitat from which the species had previously been wiped out. Since that time, a total of 65 animals have been released with the goal that they would reach maturity and start breeding to secure the viability of the re-introduced population.

The tortoises were released as sub-adults and it has taken them a few years to reach maturity and so it only now that we are seeing the first generation of tortoises to be born from animals released from the programme into the wild.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ploughshare-madagascar.html

Defacing the world's rarest tortoises

2011 marks 25 years of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust's work in Madagascar to save native species, including the Critically Endangered ploughshare tortoise.

But with the explosive growth in demand for pet tortoises from Asia, the ploughshares' former safe haven of Baly Bay National Park is under increasing threat from poachers.

Richard Lewis is director of Durrell's Madagascar programme. Here he speaks about how the team and the local villagers are working to protect the world's rarest tortoise. This includes the drastic measure of "defacing" the beautiful shells in order to make the animals worthless on the black market.

See video here ...

Critically Endangered Ploughshare tortoises rescued from smugglers

Madagascar officials foil smuggling plot of rare tortoises August 2011. A shipment of extremely rare and threatened Malagasy tortoises has been seized by officials in Madagascar as smugglers attempted to board a flight with around 200 specimens. Two men, one a native of Madagascar and an Indian national were arrested.

27 Ploughshare and 169 Radiated tortoises
The haul of rare creatures was made up of 27 ploughshare tortoises, 169 radiated tortoises and one spider tortoise. The animals were divided into three suitcases and a number of boxes and following the Kenyan Airways flight to Nairobi the consignment was due to continue on to Dubai before reaching the final destination of Jakarta. The animals are worth tens of thousands of pounds in the illegal pet trade, where they are highly sought after.

The reptiles, believed to range in age from babies through to adult were not picked up on the airport scanning system, and it was as the luggage was loaded onto the aircraft that the authorities became suspicious and the illegal haul was discovered. The tortoises are currently being held at secure quarantine centres while the case is being investigated

"It is a fantastic result that these animals were discovered and the perpetrators caught by the authorities before leaving Madagascar. It is very important that people understand that smuggling these highly threatened animals is a serious crime and we look to the judiciary to apply the full weight of the law." Commented Richard Lewis, Director of Durrell's Madagascar Programme.

Tortoise decline in Madagascar
The reduction in the tortoise population of Madagascar can be traced back to the 18th and 19th century when animals were taken as a valuable food source for visiting sailors; in the 20th century adult tortoises were often used as ‘courtyard cleaners' for the more wealthy locals. The 1990's saw an explosion in the illegal pet trade, when young ploughshares were particularly popular with the European and American markets and a single individual could fetch thousands of dollars a tempting proposition for some of the Malagasy people whose average wage is less than a dollar a day.

Catastrophic affect on the native population
Now the current political instability in Madagascar has exacerbated the trafficking situation as global animal smuggling groups have seized the opportunity to exploit the situation. This coupled with the increase in wealth in South East Asia and China where purchasers are willing to pay top prices for live specimens as pets has had a catastrophic affect on the native population.

"Like most illegal trade in wildlife, we are dealing with a situation where external demand for animals is corrupting poverty stricken communities. While we are trying to support the enforcement of wildlife laws within Madagascar, we must also tackle the demand coming from overseas. This remains the single greatest challenge for the future of the ploughshare tortoise and countless other species" said Andrew Terry, Head of Durrell's Field Programmes.

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust have been working with the Critically Endangered ploughshare tortoise in Madagascar for the last 25 years and have over that time achieved considerable success with their captive breeding programme based in Ampijoroa; to date over 200 animals have been raised in the centre and 45 released into the wild. Durrell has started a new initiative with international partners to address the trade in ploughshare tortoises and to raise awareness of animals being traded illegally. We will continue to work with the national authorities and local NGOs such as Voahary Gasy in Madagascar and partners in South East Asia to halt the illegal trade in these species.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/madagascar-ploughshare011.html

Ploughshare Tortoises Find Their Way Home

Channelon-Line TV/Jersey News. 10/29/10
The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is celebrating the news that three of four ploughshare tortoises, stolen from its base in Madagascar, have been returned to the Trust.
The four tortoises were stolen in May last year, as they were about to be  released into their native habitat in the north-west of Madagascar. Each animal was at least 15 years old and part of Durrell's long term captive
breeding programme for the species.
One of the animals was retreived in a shipment of smuggled tortoises about to leave Anatnanarivo airport, and another was retreived after it appeared on a Malaysian website, on sale for $15,000.
The third and most recent one was recovered following the seizure of an illegal shipment of animals by the Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur  this summer.
In July, two women were caught travelling with suitcases containing 400 radiated tortoises, 11 spider tortoises and four ploughshare tortoises.
The three tortoises will now all rejoin Durrell's captive breeding programme, which has been placed under strict police protection.
Richard Lewis, Director of Durrell's Madagascar Programme said: "This is a really important event. Not only have we been able to recover this animal,  it is a powerful signal from the Malaysian Government that they will not  stand for the illegal shipment of threatened species through their  borders. Most of the illegal trade in wildlife from Madagascar is routed through South East Asian countries and we hope that this is a precedent
that can be followed by other countries such as Thailand and Indonesia to  show that there is no future to illegally stripping Madagascar of its natural heritage for profit."
The investigation into the wherebouts of the fourth missing tortoise continues however, and the hope is that it might be part of batch seized at Bangkok Airport on 11th October, including one medium sized ploughshare. Durrell are currently working with TRAFFIC and the Thai authorities to confirm whether this is the last of the four.
From: HerpDigest Volume # 10 Issue # 46 10/30/10 (A Not-for-Profit Publication)