Thank you for choosing to support the TSA and make a difference for turtle conservation. Your dollars will directly support the project of your choice (listed below). Prefer to pay by check? Please send your donation (made payable to TSA) to Heather Lowe, Turtle Survival Alliance, 1989 Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth, TX 76110.
- Hong Kong Confiscation - Emergency Need! - The TSA has agreed to assist with the care and placement of a portion of a group of ~1,300 turtles (including some endangered species) confiscated February 2010 in Hong Kong, on its way to the markets of China. Your donation will help to offset the costs of shipment, care and placement of these animals, which are anticipated to be very significant! Facing euthanasia when initially confiscated, these animals are being given a second chance by the TSA and our partners Kadoorie Farms and Botanic Garden. Help give these turtles a healthy start in a new home by donating today!
- Conference - The 8th Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles, co-hosted by the Turtle Survival Alliance and the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG), will be held August 16-20, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. The meeting, which has hosted an average of 200 attendees over the past four years, represents the largest gathering of non-marine turtle biologists in the world. Your donation will offset meeting expenses, help us keep costs low and allow us to provide travel grants to international students and presenters.
- Dermatemys program – Belize – Wild populations of the Central American river turtle have undergone dramatic declines over the past 20 years, particularly in southern Mexico. Populations in Belize are heavily exploited but may still represent the stronghold for this critically endangered turtle. Countrywide surveys are needed to confirm their status. In concert with the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education and other local partners, the TSA plans to launch a pilot husbandry program to determine how to breed Dermatemys in captivity. Once these techniques are developed, they can be expanded to the community level, which will help take pressure off wild populations, help restore depleted numbers, and provide a protein source for local villages. Your donation can help us launch this important program.
- General Fund - Donations to the general fund will be applied by the TSA to the areas where they are most needed.
- India - The TSA India program is managed by Indian biologists that seek local solutions to saving turtles including converting former poachers and providing alternative income sources. Large-scale illegal collecting for Asian markets threatens the survival of many of India’s turtles, and the TSA India program may be their only hope for the future. Donations are critical to our programs in India, many of which are carried out in areas that are extremely impoverished and where resources are at a minimum.
- Madagascar - With five endemic species – four of them tortoises – Madagascar is considered a tortoise diversity hotspot. Unfortunately, all of these species were recently ranked Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, due primarily to unregulated collecting for food and the black market pet trade. The TSA’s efforts are directed at improving enforcement capacity for the remnant populations of the ploughshare tortoise – already reduced to 250 in the wild – that is being collected to extinction for Asian pet markets. In the arid Southwest, the TSA partners with the Village des Tortues in Ifaty to improve captive breeding in spider tortoises and return radiated tortoises to the wild, in areas of former abundance. Donations to the Madagascar program will help fund reintroduction of radiated tortoises, expand captive habitats for spider tortoises, and improve monitoring and protection of wild ploughshare tortoise populations against poachers.
- Malaysia - Some of Asia’s most charismatic large river turtles are still found in Malaysia, but blatant and unregulated illegal trade threaten their future. For the river and painted terrapin, “stronghold” populations are found here that are critical for the species’ survival. The TSA is collaborating with local biologists and terrapin centers to implement a scientific approach to terrapin headstart and release strategies that will better promote population recovery. Rescue and breeding centers are also desperately needed for other species such as the striped narrow–headed softshell turtle and the Malaysian giant river turtle. Donations will support these types of facilities, improving the infrastructure for turtle conservation in this country.
- Myanmar (Burma) - With 28 species (including seven that are endemic, or found nowhere else on Earth) Myanmar is currently considered “ground zero” for the Asian turtle crisis. The TSA works with the Wildlife Conservation Society to implement recovery programs for some highly endangered endemic species – the Burmese roof turtle, Burmese star tortoise and Arakan forest turtle. The TSA is also coordinating a comprehensive and humane response to the thousands of smuggled turtles that are confiscated each year on their way to China that includes planning and building multiple captive breeding and rescue centers that will secure the future for turtles saved from the illegal trade. These rescue centers are critical to the conservation of several endangered species and your donation can help support their construction.
- Rafetus program – China - In China, the TSA has been working since 2007 to breed the last known female Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) in existence. After extensive negotiations, the TSA spearheaded the move of the female to the Suzhou Zoo, where she has been paired with the last known male in China. The TSA has provided nutritional and husbandry expertise, as well as exhibit improvements, in an attempt to increase the chances of successfully reproducing this rarest of turtles. Donations to the Rafetus fund will support the presence of TSA personnel at the Suzhou Zoo throughout the critical breeding season that can ensure that nutritional and husbandry guidelines are being maintained that ensure the best chances for successful hatchlings in 2010.
- Training scholarship program - These funds provide support for the TSA's training program that brings staff from our range country programs to the U.S. for a summer internship. Students receive intensive training in turtle field research techniques as well as a broad range of other experiences including captive husbandry, veterinary treatment and museum techniques. Students return to their native country both inspired and empowered to take decisive action and conduct meaningful research.
- TSA Europe – Partners in TSA Europe maintain the best managed captive populations of the rare Chinese endemic box turtles, some of which are believed extinct in nature. In particular the International Center for Conservation of Turtles (ICCT) at the Muenster Zoo maintains successful breeding groups of these and other rare species that are crucial to sustaining genetic diversity in the small captive assurance colonies. Egyptian tortoises and Madagascan short-tailed tortoises, critically endangered, are also priorities and are recognized as flagship programs for TSA Europe. Your donation will help support these important efforts.
