Archive for December 2014
NAFTRG 2014: The Year of the Volunteer
by Eric Munscher This year has been a great one for the North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group (NAFTRG) for many reasons, none more so than because of the incredible volunteers that made it all possible. The group captured and processed more turtles in 2014 than in any other year since the project launched in 1999.…
Read MoreVisitors to the TSC in December
by Heather Lowe We’d like to extend a huge thanks to the volunteers from the North Carolina Zoo who helped out recently at the Turtle Survival Center (TSC). With the help of the hard-working Zoo staff, the team was able to make progress on a variety of construction projects, including erecting a chain link fence around…
Read MoreJoel Sartore Visits TSA India
by Heather Lowe Acclaimed photographer, Joel Sartore recently visited TSA project site Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Center (KGRC) in Lucknow, India. Joel was there to work on his biodiversity project, Photo Ark. To date, Joel has photographed almost 4,200 species with the goal of raising public awareness of animals at risk. Prior to his visit to KGRC…
Read MoreIs the Tide Turning for Madagascar’s Tortoises?
by Heather Lowe After nearly 30 hours in transit on three flights, and bone tired, I returned from Madagascar just in time for Thanksgiving. But with a few days to put things into perspective, I was ready to share my impressions about TSA’s work to reduce tortoise poaching: in brief, I believe the tide is beginning to…
Read MoreStar Tortoise Reintroduction Progressing Well in Myanmar
by Steve Platt Efforts to reestablish a wild population of Burmese star tortoises (Geochelone platynota) at a wildlife sanctuary in central Myanmar continued apace during November 2014 when we liberated 50 headstarted tortoises from a temporary pen where they had been held for the past 12 months. Captive-bred subadult tortoises from several assurance colonies in Myanmar…
Read MoreCaptive Reproduction of Arakan Forest Turtles
by Steve Platt On 21 November, we were elated to learn that a female Arakan Forest Turtle (Heosemys depressa), one of 14 adults held in an assurance colony at Gwa (Headquarters of the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Sanctuary), had deposited a clutch of five eggs only days before. This is the second successful nesting by a female H.…
Read MoreDisappointment in Myanmar
by Heather Lowe Our efforts to secure a large female Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska), believed to be the sole surviving representative of her species in Myanmar, came to a disappointing conclusion in November when the Board of Trustees at Botataung Pagoda refused to grant final permission for us to remove the aged turtle to a captive-breeding facility.…
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