By the Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Behler / Pritchard Turtle Conservation Award Committee (BPAC), Anders G.J. Rhodin, Rick Hudson, Vivian Páez, Peter Paul van Dijk, and Andrew Walde
Belher Turtle Conservation Award
This year, the 21st annual Behler Turtle Conservation Award celebrated and honored Sabine Schoppe (pictured above). Sabine is a German conservation biologist whose career spans more than three decades of work in the Philippines. After earning a Ph.D. in Germany, she moved to the Philippines in 1995, where she has since combined scientific research with practical conservation action. Her early work included ornithological surveys and community-based coastal resource management, helping to shape her collaborative approach to biodiversity conservation.
She was a co-founder of the Philippine-based NGO, Katala Foundation, Inc., and its Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Program, and then also founded the Philippine/Palawan Freshwater Turtle Conservation Program, focusing on one of the Philippines’ most critically endangered endemic species: the Palawan Forest Turtle (Siebenrockiella leytensis). Under her leadership, this program has achieved several conservation milestones, including the establishment of the first protected area for the Palawan Forest Turtle, and its first successful conservation breeding. Through partnerships with Turtle Conservancy and Rainforest Trust, critical habitats have also been secured to protect important wild populations.
In 2015, Sabine led the response to a large wildlife rescue operation involving the Palawan Forest Turtle, after some 4,000 individuals were confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade. Working with veterinarians and conservation specialists from around the world, including the Turtle Survival Alliance and Turtle Conservancy, she helped rehabilitate and return thousands of turtles to the wild, while initiating a large-scale post-release monitoring program. For these efforts, she was honored with the 2015 Andrew Sabin Award for Excellence in Chelonian Conservation.
Today, Sabine is recognized as one of the Philippines’ foremost conservationists. Her work demonstrates how scientific research, species conservation, wildlife law enforcement, and community stewardship can be successfully combined to protect some of the world’s most threatened species and ecosystems.
Tragically, Sabine is seriously ill at this time, and medically unable to travel—her award was instead accepted by her longtime conservation associate in Palawan, Diverlie Dela Cruz Acosta. We missed her presence at the Symposium, but honored and celebrated her outstanding contributions and were with her in spirit.
Pritchard Turtle Conservation Lifetime Achievement Award
We also honored four Pritchard Turtle Conservation Lifetime Achievement Awardees this year, all for their outstanding long-term contributions to turtle conservation and biology: Oscar Flores-Villela of México for his long-term work on Mexican turtles while also teaching and mentoring many herpetologists; Sue Carstairs of Canada for her longtime veterinary work on turtles in Canada; Jim Harding of the United States for his long-term focus on turtle conservation, notably on Wood Turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) in Michigan; and Frank Slavens of the United States for his long-term work on the captive care of turtles at the Woodland Park Zoo in Washington and work on wild Pacific Pond Turtles (Actinemys marmorata) with his wife, Kate. We thank all of them for their lifetimes of dedication, perseverance, and achievements in making a major difference for turtles.
Posthumous Turtle Conservation Appreciation Award
We also remember and honor Jim Buskirk and Dawn Wilson of the United States, who both passed recently, with Posthumous Turtle Conservation Appreciation Awards. We honor Jim for his long-term work on global turtles, notably in Latin America, and Dawn for her important work on mud turtles (Kinosternon) and Gopher and Desert tortoises (Gopherus).
In Loving Memory of Ed Moll (November 30, 1939 – July 28, 2026)
It is with a heavy heart that we also recognize the passing of Dr. Edward (Ed) Owen Moll. Born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1939, Ed dedicated his life to the pursuit of herpetological knowledge and conservation, with a particular emphasis on turtles.
Ed was the first recipient of the Behler Turtle Conservation Award, established to honor leadership and excellence in the field of turtle and tortoise conservation. The award was inaugurated at the 4th Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles, held in St. Louis, Missouri, August 10–13, 2006.
Ed leaves behind a remarkable legacy of scholarship, conservation, teaching, and mentorship, and we thank him for his life’s work and for the many lives he inspired.
With Appreciation to Our Award Partners and Sponsors
The IUCN SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group and Turtle Survival Alliance are joined by the Turtle Conservancy and the Turtle Conservation Fund as co-presenters of the Behler and Pritchard awards, bringing together four turtle conservation organizations closely tied to both John Behler’s and Peter Pritchard’s legacies. Additional support for the Behler Award and its honorarium is also gratefully received from the following generous co-sponsors: Patricia and Alan Koval, Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, Judith Behler Howells, Re:wild, Deborah Behler, George Meyer, Chelonian Research Foundation, Congdon-Dickson Turtle Ecology Fund, Whit Gibbons, and Brett Stearns.
Congratulations to Sabine, Oscar, Sue, Jim, and Frank, and thank you all for your major efforts on behalf of turtles and their conservation—your recognition as Behler and Pritchard Honorees is most highly deserved!
Header image: Sabine Schoppe, this year’s Behler Turtle Conservation Award honoree.