Exciting Nesting News for Two Rare Turtle Species

by¬†Heather Lowe¬† The nesting season for wild Asian river terrapins (Batagur) is winding down, just on the heels of the recently completed Batagur workshop in Singapore and Malaysia in February, and we hope that the training will have an impact on hatching success. In Myanmar, Kalyar Platt (TSA Turtle Conservation Coordinator) just returned from the […]

Singapore Turtle Conservation Workshop – Day 2

by¬†Rick Hudson¬† On Tuesday morning – day two of the workshop – the seventy workshop participants reviewed the “Red List,” an internationally recognized database of the world’s most vulnerable species. Participants from countries throughout Asia provided the most up-to-date information on the status of each species. A few were determined to be secure enough now […]

Singapore Workshop Day 3 – Strategizing Conservation Efforts

by Rick Hudson on February 28, 2011 With all the country and trade reports as background information, and with the Red-listing behind us, the stage was finally set for the critical Day 3 of the workshop: designing specific priority conservation actions for the most threatened species. And though I am not at liberty to formally […]

Turtles In Trouble

Click here for a PDF version of the full report. The plight of the planet’s tortoises and turtles — creatures that have roamed the Earth for 220 million years — has never been greater, according to the newly released report “Turtles in Trouble: Top 25+ Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles .” It shows the world’s […]

Turtle Conservation Workshop Opens in Singapore

by¬†Rick Hudson¬† We were happy to see some old friends and meet some new ones at the Conservation of Asian Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles workshop at the Singapore Zoo. Over 70 delegates from 20 countries, including 16 Asian nations were in attendance. Hosted by the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and the Wildlife Conservation Society, in collaboration […]

Rescued Temple Turtle Lays Eggs

by¬†Heather Lowe The group of yellow-headed temple turtles (Hieremys annandalii) that was recently rescued from a confiscation in Hong Kong and imported by the TSA seems to be settling into their new Florida home quite nicely. One of the females recently laid eight eggs in the pond! Kenan Harkin, who is serving as the steward […]

¡Vivan las tortugas de México!

This past week, TSA’s Director of Animal Management, Cris Hagen, visited the states of Durango and Coahuila, Mexico, to familiarize himself with the status of turtle conservation in the north-central region of the country. Spending four days alongside Gamaliel Castaneda, Dean of Biology, University of Ju√°rez in the State of Durango, as well as professors […]

Poachers Apprehended in Madagascar

Herilala Randriamahazo (TSA’s full-time Malagasy Tortoise Conservation Coordinator) has only been at work in his new position for a little over a month. However, he has already been able to assist with the apprehension of radiated tortoise poachers – saving a number of tortoises before they were killed. A meeting of several conservation organizations was […]

Playing Soccer for Endangered Tortoises

TSA Madagascar recently participated in a very special event to raise awareness for the endangered radiated tortoise. A soccer tournament was organized and sponsored in Antananarivo on December 11-12 by Eco-Sys Actions and Salamandra Nature (conservation NGOs) and their partners. The main objective of the event, held at Alarobia Stadium, was to raise public awareness […]

Additional Turtles Acquired in Bangladesh

by¬†Heather Lowe The TSA team is still hard at work in Bangladesh, plying the markets and private ponds in search of the extremely rare Sundarbans river terrapin (Batagur baska). Their efforts were recently rewarded, as they secured another female and two additional males, bringing the total to ten males and three females in the breeding […]

TSA Implements Emergency Measures for Batagur

by¬†Rick Hudson and Brian Horne¬† November 7, 2010: “We succeeded in securing an additional three males however we missed saving one male by 5 minutes as it was slaughtered at the market. If we had been just a few minutes earlier we could have stopped it from being slaughtered, but unfortunately we arrived after they […]

On the Cusp of a TSA South America Program

Brian Horne and Rick Hudson represented the TSA recently at a South American turtle Red-listing workshop in Brazil, joining scientists and conservationists gathered to evaluate the conservation status of the tortoises and freshwater turtles of South America for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Spending at least ten days on a boat traveling down […]