Gulf Coast terrapin claimed national limelight- via Herp Digest

Published: February 16, 2013

HAROLD GATER/SUN HERALD/1987The early 20th century witnessed an unusual type of farming on the Mississippi Coast. Turtle farms were usually wooden pens half in the water and half on the land, and the "herds" of diamondback terrapins were gathered from across the region.

The counts dined luxuriously on chopped oysters from the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Sound. Then, in turn, they became the dinner.

"Counts" were the largest diamondback terrapins on Coast turtle farms, with the rest of the penned herd called bulls and heifers. They, too, were fed oysters, which were plentiful at the turn of the 20th century.

When turtle soup was all the rage in New York, Washington and among the wealthy along the Eastern Seaboard, coastal Mississippians happily and profitably provided the main ingredient. Terrapins were native to the Gulf region, as one Chicago reporter explained in a March 1912 story datelined Biloxi: "Diamondback terrapin, selling today on the market in New York and Chicago for $5 each ($113 equivalent today) are to be had practically for the asking along the Gulf Coast, if one has the hardihood to bare his arms and reach into a hole in the mud where the terrapin is enjoying his winter siesta."

E.F. Younger was writing about outdoors possibilities for Northerners who retreat to this Southern winter resort. One section of his piece was "Terrapin for the Asking":"Of course, there is always the chance that the terrapin will wake up and take a nip at the intruding hand, but that is one of the fortunes of war. If you beat him to it and drag him out of his retreat, you have the chief ingredient for the finest soup known to epicures."

Local history lovers will recognize a twist of Baltimore irony in this story. Earlier, Biloxi entrepreneurs had traveled to that Maryland city to learn the secrets of the so-called Seafood Capital of the World. They learned well and within a few decades Biloxi claimed to be the seafood capital.

Baltimore was also world famous for the diamondback terrapins they supplied for turtle soup, but the terrapin were over-fished and by the turn of the century they were scarce. When Baltimore could no longer supply the national demand, the Gulf region, particularly Louisiana and Mississippi, stepped forward and people such as Chicago's Younger sang the praises of the local turtles.

Several sizable farms, with 4,000 to 14,000 turtles, sprang up on Biloxi Back Bay, Deer Island and Bay St. Louis. Those were not like the turtle farms of today that create new stock through breeding. Most of the "herd" was rounded up by entrepreneurial fishermen and others who scoured the marshland, islands and elsewhere for turtle stock. They sold them to farmers, who kept them fed and in pens until it was time to fill orders.

"The trapper or boatman catching the turtle was paid $1 for counts, 25 cents for heifers and 5 cents for bulls," the late Capt. Ernest Desporte of Biloxi recalled in his memoirs. "The terrapin in his natural habitat while in the water would bury and was caught by oystermen looking for large oysters in the bays and shallow waters of Louisiana marsh."

One Back Bay farm between Lameuse and Reynoir streets was a curiosity to visitors and locals. Reported The Daily Herald in 1909: "The acreage is mostly under water surrounded by piling and timbers that prevent the live crop to diamond turtle bucks from leaving their happy salt sea home. They have a sunning place on the beach."

Most farmers shipped their stock out of the region, but one enterprising Hancock County man, H.J. Thurston, canned turtle soup. His company outlasted the farms, likely because he used assorted turtle varieties, as he announced in a November 1917 Herald: "To Fishermen, I will buy all kinds, green turtle, loggerheads, Mobilians and terrapin."

Aiken, Moran and Anderson also join the names of Coast turtle fame. Hurricanes, a depleted stock and federal laws to keep the terrapin from extinction, brought this local history chapter to a close within two decades. Turtle soup was replaced with mock turtle soup, in which muskrats were deemed a suitable substitute.

Terrapin haven in Tuscany for UK rescued reptiles is ruined and overrun (via HerpDigest)

Terrapin haven in Tuscany for UK rescued reptiles is ruined and overrun (Carapax)
Carapax sanctuary, which gave new home to UK's abandoned terrapins, in disarray after legal battle and neglect claims.

It seemed the perfect solution to the problem of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. Thousands of red-eared terrapins had been dumped in Britain's waterways in the early 1990s, after being bought as pets during the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze.

Rather than allow them to devour native animals including fish, newts, moorhens and ducklings, a terrapin charity paid for more than 800 to be flown abroad to start a new life in Italy.

The terrapins took up residence at an idyllic site, a sanctuary in Massa Marittima, 90 miles south of Pisa. However, after the eviction last year of the sanctuary's manager hundreds of the rescued reptiles are dead or dying, while scores more of the non-native animals have escaped into the Tuscan countryside, according to local people and terrapin experts.

The Italian sanctuary, known as Carapax, or the European Centre for Chelonian Conservation, and run by Donato Ballasina, the director, attracted funds from charities across Europe. It received £25 for every terrapin and other non-native chelonian sent to the centre.

"This was a shipping of animals to their death - to be put in lakes which were not fit for purpose," said Tom Langton, an independent ecologist who investigated the project. "Animals were underfed and dying with disease. The whole thing is bizarre and worrying."

In Britain, there are more than 2,000 terrapins still at large in waterways in the London area alone. Many are dinner plate-sized red-eared terrapins (Trachemys scripta elegans), also called sliders, which were discarded by their Ninja Turtle-loving owners. Red-eared terrapins are now banned from sale in Britain but many enthusiasts have switched to other similar non-native species.

In 2007, the City of London Authority captured rogue terrapins from park ponds in the capital and, along with other organisations and individuals, passed them to the British Chelonia Group.

The BCG funded the terrapins' expatriation to the Tuscan sanctuary, which was billed as a home for life, where the creatures could swim in lakes fed by streams warmed by volcanic rock. The sanctuary was also claimed to be "hermetically sealed" so that no red-eared terrapins could escape and start terrorising the native species.

Almost immediately, the BCG received evidence that terrapins were dying because the sanctuary's ponds were too small and because fencing was not secure. But the charity said it dispatched people to check on the animals' conditions and found no problems, so it continued to part-fund the project.
"It all sounded too good to be true, and it was," said Paul Eversfield, a former BCG member, referring to his visit to the sanctuary in the autumn of 2007.

Eversfield said that he found a muddy pond overcrowded with terrapins with no filtration, and fencing through which the creatures could easily escape. He said he warned the BCG of the situation.

Don Freeman, the BCG's chairman, said Eversfield's findings were not ignored. "When we sent people out to have a look, including those who had sent terrapins there, they were satisfied with what they found." According to Freeman it was difficult to prove that terrapins had escaped because feral red-eared terrapins were already at large in Tuscany before the sanctuary was built.

"The problems were none of ours. It was a question of [Ballasina's] tenure and that's it," added Freeman. "What can we do about another organisation? Nothing. It's up to them. The book is closed."
A former Carapax employee said the sanctuary "lost control" of its animals and "turtles spilled into streams, ponds and rivers, creating environmental pollution".

After a court battle with the local landowner, Ballasina was last year evicted from the site for breaking his tenancy terms. Native tortoises and turtles were seized by the Italian authorities but the non-native terrapins were left on the site and the Italian courts allowed Ballasina access to feed the animals. Ballasina could not be reached to put the allegations to him.

In a letter purporting to be from the Belgian based charity the International RANA Foundation, the umbrella group of Ballasina's defunct Carapax project, a representative accused "local mafia" of forcing the Tuscan centre to close, claimed reports of salmonella infections at the site were invented, and appealed for more money to pay to feed "8,000 turtles" still there.

Freeman confirmed the BCG was still funding the feeding of the terrapins left in the sanctuary from charitable donations, but insisted that the money - ?180 (£157) a week according to the BCG's website - was no longer going to Ballasina or Carapax.

The Italian authorities appointed Marco Zuffi, of the Museum of National History, at the University of Pisa, to monitor the derelict sanctuary. According to Zuffi the sanctuary became overcrowded because Ballasina was incapable of refusing requests to help terrapins. "He should not have accepted so many individuals coming from the UK or other countries," said Zuffi. "He wasn't able to say 'no'." Observers who regularly visited the site said that the remaining 1,500 terrapins were in a "pretty bad" way, he said.

"The animals are evidentially very distressed. They come to the shore with their mouths open looking for food. It is a sign of animals in a very bad condition."

Eversfield said the remaining terrapins were a dilemma for all parties involved. "This solution to this is very uncomfortable. The site needs to be sanitised and we need to collect the animals and humanely destroy them," he suggested.

According to Zuffi, euthanasia was not a solution. "If you [tell] the public you are going to kill hundreds and hundreds of sliders you're likely to be stopped at all legal levels. People want to protect their pets, and sliders are considered pets."

He said that the terrapins could be repatriated to their countries of origin, including the UK (some are micro-chipped), or taken to secure centres. But he said that there was no timetable for cleaning up the sanctuary.

Mutant turtles terrorising London ponds

Evening Standard
25 May 2011

Hybrid turtles are taking hold of London's parks and ponds.

Experts studying 1,600 square kilometres of London and the home counties were shocked to find 10 species and several hybrids. They even found rare African turtles in a Camden park.

Despite culls, numbers are growing. Tom Langton of the London Natural History Society said: "We found a big increase in the sightings of terrapins, a type of turtle popular in the Eighties due to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon series."

A government ban in 1997 has led to "lookalike" species being sold cheaply in pet shops. Mr Langton said he hoped all terrapins would be banned in the UK.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23953408-mutant-turtles-terrorising-london-ponds.do

Diamondback Terrapins Focus of Barnegat Bay (Via HerpDigest)

Diamondback Terrapins Focus of Barnegat Bay (NJ) Study

Wareton, NJ (AP) August 29, 2010- A blend of science, conservation and technology goes into an ongoing 20-year study of diamondback terrapins and the conditions affecting their mortality.
"Overall we are extremely pleased with the progress of this study," Drexel University Professor Hal Avery said. "Our students are working on many diverse projects."

Avery heads the 20-year university study, which is based at the Lighthouse Environmental Center in Waretown and involves the section of the E.B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge off Barnegat Bay.
In its fifth year, the project includes studies of turtle migration patterns, population and spawning and is funded by Earth Watch of Maynard, Mass.

Avery said volunteers this year came from the United States, Japan, Canada and Britain. On Friday, the team came across one of the hazards faced by terrapins: a commercial crab trap.

"We call it a ghost trap as it has broken off from a number of traps and was found floating in the bay. These traps could kill terrapins that climb inside it and drown," Avery said.

Ironically, a crabber reported that morning finding a crab trap containing a terrapin that had been tagged for study.

Avery and team members Abby Dominy, a Drexel University graduate student, and Lise Theriault, an Earth Watch volunteer from New Brunswick, Canada, went off by boat to meet up with team members in another boat who were investigating the crabber's find.

The adult female terrapin was alive and well with the three other researchers: Dr. Edward Standora of the Department of Biology, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, N.Y., Julianne Winters, a Drexel University doctoral student who has been with the project for three years, and Earth Watch volunteer Ellen McKnight of New York City.

"They had been looking for that turtle for several weeks," Avery said.

The crabber who alerted them had seen the small orange transmitter antenna that was attached to the turtle's shell bobbing in the water in the crab trap. Standora designed the radio units used to track the turtles.

"There are all sorts of debris from recreation and commercial crabbing," Avery noted. "It creates a potential hazard for them."

Winters said she is studying the impact of bulkheading, which often blocks turtles seeking to return to the area where they were hatched. As part of her studies, she blocked an area and observed their behavior.

"They are spending more time moving around and are then facing more risk," Winters said.
Avery and his team then met up with another team in a bay salt marsh area where Drexel student Lori Lester was using a sonic telemetry device that plays recorded boat engine sounds.

"By measuring their neuro activity, we discovered they can hear, and that was exciting," Lester said.
This summer, her tests demonstrated that turtles placed in a small trench in the marsh did not respond to recorded boat sounds.

"There was no reaction. They just swam right past the speaker. If it were an actual boat in its path, the turtle could have been killed."

Assisting Lester were Drexel University graduate student Elise Winterberger of Bucks County, Pa., and Earth Watch volunteers Eileen Bayer of Maine and Rachel Seary of Wales. They were using a sensor that measures temperature and depth readings.

Avery celebrated his 50th birthday last week with his colleagues, students and volunteers at the Lighthouse Center.

"We really are a family here, and it's fascinating to see the progress of our Ph.D. students who have graduated and who have become full investigators," he said.

Call for papers for the 5th National Symposium on the Ecology, Status, and Conservation of the Diamondback Terrapin

Call for papers for the 5th National Symposium on the Ecology, Status, and Conservation of the Diamondback Terrapin
LUMCON W. J. DeFelice Marine Center
Chauvin, LA, 12-14 November 2010

The Diamondback Terrapin Working Group is made up of individuals from academic, scientific, regulatory and private institutions/organizations working to promote the conservation of the diamondback terrapin, the preservation of intact, wild terrapin populations and their associated ecosystems throughout their range. DTWG is committed to and supports research, management, conservation, and education efforts with the above goals in mind. This conference is a forum for the presentation of current information on terrapin research and conservation. In addition to updating colleagues on current research, the conference can serve as a forum to identify research needs, foster friendships, and rekindle interest in terrapins by bringing people with diverse backgrounds together. All interested individuals are invited.

We are accepting abstracts for oral papers and posters from now until 1 October 2010. We encourage posters wherever possible due to the limited time available for talks, and we may change a proposed talk to a poster. Posters will be on display on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. The poster session will be on Saturday afternoon. Presentations are planned to be 20 minutes in total length (15 min. presentation, 5 min. questions).

Abstract instructions:
1. Remember the theme of this meeting, in recognition of the great state of Louisiana, is EVOLUTION.
2. The title should be short and informative.
3. Abstracts should state briefly and clearly the purpose, methods, results and conclusions of the work. The abstract must be a single paragraph that is no more than 200 words.
4. Be sure all authors approve of the abstract before submission
5. List all affiliations and authors. The affiliations include Institution name, city, state/region, and country. The order of affiliation must match the order of author (i.e., affiliation 1 is for author 1, affiliations 2 is for author 2 and author 3, affiliation 3 is for author 4, etc.).
6. Indicate whether you would prefer your presentation to be a talk or a poster.
7. Send your abstract as a Word file attachment to biorlb@hofstra.edu

The setting: The LUMCON W. J. DeFelice Marine Center is approximately 85 miles southwest of New Orleans. It is situated in the heart of the estuarine wetland complex of the Mississippi River deltaic plain, between Atchafalaya River and the Mississippi. This site provides ready field access to the most productive estuaries in the United States, including vast salt, brackish and freshwater marshes, barrier islands, and offshore environments of the northern Gulf of Mexico. It will be a spectacular location for our meeting.

The facility (http://www.lumcon.edu/facilities/marinecenter/): The W. J. DeFelice Marine Center is a modern, 75,000 square foot complex of research, instructional, housing, and support facilities. It has 26,000 square feet of laboratory, classroom, office, and library space, and 8 laboratories equipped with running sea water. We will be using their cafeteria/ general meeting room in the center of the complex, and their 99-seat auditorium.

Housing: The W. J. DeFelice Marine Center has 72 beds in dorm rooms and 20 beds in
apartments, which are further broken down as one 2 bedroom apt with five beds, two 1 bedroom apts that each have 4 beds, a 1 bedroom apt with 5 beds, and a 1 bedroom apt with 2 beds. These will be filled on a first come-first served basis; call the LUMCOM receptionist, Ms. Cindy Sevin at (985) 851-2800 ext. 0 to reserve your room. If you want to arrive early or stay later to enjoy the Marine Center's excellent facilities, you can arrange that with Ms. Sevin. If we fill the facility there is very likely to be space at the Coco Marina (hotel) (1-800-648-2626, < 1/4 mile down the road, ask to speak with Joan Glover). See the visitor handbook at (http://www.lumcon.edu/facilities/MarineCenter/VisitorHandbook.pdf).

Meals: We will have an informal reception Friday night, and a banquet featuring shrimp okra gumbo (with vegetarian option) with a guest speaker Saturday night. All meals (breakfasts & lunches Saturday and Sunday, banquet Saturday night) will be on site.

The Banquet speaker: we are fortunate enough to have Dr. Peter Lindeman, Professor of (Turtle) Biology at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, addressing our symposium theme with a talk entitled: "Shaking the Graptemys Tree: How Phylogeny Elucidates Ecology in the Map Turtles and Sawbacks and Diamondback Terrapins"

Costs: I am still working out details, but I suspect that housing, meals, reception, banquet, shuttle service to/from New Orleans airport combined will be about $110.

Dr. Russell Burke, Department of Biology, Hofstra University, 516.463.5521, biorlb@hofstra.edu.