Turtle Survival
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE
2017
RICK HUDSON
FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
Putting Boots on the Ground in Times of Need:
It's What We Do
From Texas to Madagascar, it seems that
when turtles are in trouble, the TSA is there
to lend a hand. It's just what we do, and I
believe that we do it well. I'm incredibly
proud of our network of staff and volunteers
that rise to the occasion time and again when
duty calls.
It was a Saturday afternoon, mid-September,
when the TSA got a call from Sal Scibetta of
the Hill Country in New Braunfels, Texas.
They had just received a confiscation of over
300 Mexican turtles, including some pretty
rare box turtles, and were a bit overwhelmed
with the task at hand. After speaking with
Sal, I called Jordan Gray, who had just
started as the TSA's Communications
Coordinator, and asked if he could lend a
hand as he was already in Austin preparing
for a Drink Beer, Save Turtles event. Jordan
swung into action and quickly mobilized an
A-Team of some of the best husbandry and
veterinary talent that the Lone Star State
has to offer. A few days later I spoke with
Sal again and he reflected in glowing terms
about the role that the TSA played in helping
to bring some structure to a previously
chaotic situation.
"Being able to reach out to the TSA and
receive assistance with manpower and exper-
tise was critical in the success of triaging
and setting up long-term care regimes for
over 300 turtles in a matter of days," he said.
"This was not something that could have
been done solely in-house."
His words got me thinking...this is what
sets the TSA apart: our ability to quickly
mobilize resources and put boots on the
ground. At our core, we are a grassroots
organization, accessible to anyone who
wants to help turtles, fueled by a collective
passion that drives us to try and create a
better world for our chelonian friends.
Fast forward one month. I am spending my
last day in Madagascar in the capital city of
Antananarivo, writing my overdue articles
for the magazine and working on budget
with our Director, Herilala Randriamahazo.
I count on this "down time" after every
October trip to compose my thoughts and
articulate my experiences from the past ten
days into an article that accurately reflects
this increasingly complex program.
When we started working in Madagascar
in 2010, and became aware of the growing
trade with Radiated Tortoises and knew we
had to do something to bring awareness
to the situation and try to curb poaching.
We accomplished that fairly effectively,
with the unfortunate (though not totally
unexpected) consequence of THOUSANDS
of confiscated tortoises. We knew we
would see confiscations and would need to
prepare to handle them, but nothing could
have prepared us for the volume that we are
currently managing: over 8,000 tortoises
under the TSA's care in Madagascar! We
are effectively running refugee centers for
displaced tortoises.
The impact of that number on our budget is
huge, in terms of new staff, new facilities,
and vet care, but we have managed to rise to
the occasion and care for them well, thanks to
our many donors and supporters. In fact, once
tortoises arrive at our Tortoise Conservation
Center, the mortality rate is less than 1%, an
impressive stat by anyone's standards.
We didn't ask to be placed in this situation,
but rising to the occasion is entirely necessary
if we are to prevail in saving the Radiated
Tortoise from extinction in the wild. Make
no mistake: in ten years, we could potentially
be looking at another Ploughshare Tortoise
disaster where we are scrambling to save the
last remnant wild populations. The last thing I
want is to look back at this time in my career
with regrets. I want to know that we fought
the good fight and did all we could to save
this iconic species.
Please lock arms with us and help us make
good on our pledge to save this species.
Many thanks, or as we say in Madagascar,
Misotra Besaka.
ABOUT THE COVER: By the time the Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska) was formally described and recognized as a distinct
species by science in 2007, it was ranked Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. With no known wild nesting populations
remaining, this denizen of the vast Sundarbans region of India and Bangladesh (and formerly Myanmar) is regarded as one of the
most threatened chelonians on the planet. However, in 2010 the TSA and their partners in Bangladesh (Peter Praschag, Rupali Ghosh,
Vienna Zoo) and India (West Bengal Forest Dept.) begin establishing breeding groups of B. baska with terrapins that had been in
captive situations long-term. The first successful captive reproduction occurred in both countries in 2012 and since then nearly 600
terrapins have been hatched to date. This bi-national collaborative conservation effort has brought a species from the cusp of extinc-
tion, and through captive breeding has assured that this species will not be lost. See full story pp.48.
BOARD MEMBERS
James Breheny
Andre Daneault
William Dennler
Susie Ellis, PhD
Michael Fouraker
Tim Gregory, PhD
Rick Hudson, President
John Iverson, PhD
Patricia Koval, LLD, Chair
Dwight Lawson, PhD, Vice-President
Kim Lovich
Lonnie McCaskill
John Mitchell
Russ Mittermeier
Colin Poole
Hugh Quinn, PhD
Anders Rhodin, MD
Walter Sedgwick
Frank Slavens
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Andrew Walde
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Ilze Astad
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Jan Holloway
Janet Fincannon
Jordan Gray
David Hedrick
TURTLE SURVIVAL CENTER STAFF
Cris Hagen
Carol Alvarez, RMA, NCPT
Clinton Doak
Nathan Haislip, MS
RANGE COUNTRY PROGRAM LEADERS
German Forero-Medina, PhD
Kalyar Platt, PhD
Herilala Radriamahazo, PhD
Shailendra Singh, PhD
Turtle Survival Alliance 2017
TURTLE SURVIVAL
ALLIANCE
instagram.com/TurtleSurvival
facebook.com/TurtleSurvival
twitter.com/TurtleSurvival
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURES
Inside Cover From the President's Desk
5 Turtles in Trouble
8 Zhou's Box Turtle Exchange
10 Turtle Survival Center
50 Australia
RANGE COUNTY UPDATES
EXLUSIVES, NEWS AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PARTNER NEWS
2 Meet the Staff
4 Board Updates
58 Behler Award
60 Member Spotlights
62 Outreach
68 Donor Recognition
15 NAFTRG
18 Madagascar
23 Belize
26 Cambodia
28 Colombia
31 China
32 Indonesia
34 India
38 Myanmar
44 Bangladesh
48 Northern River Terrapins (Cover Story)
3 Partners
54 TSA Partner News
56 TSA Europe
63 Brewery Partnerships
Contents of this publication should be cited as: Author. (2017) Article Title. Turtle Survival, pp. xx-xx.
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 1
JORDAN GRAY
MEET THE STAFF
ABOUT THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE
Jordan joined the TSA in February 2017 as the new Communications
and Outreach Coordinator. A native of Virginia, he has lived in
numerous American states and abroad, all of which have provided
various opportunities for him to cultivate his passion for chelonians.
Involvement with conservation and wildlife research began early
for Jordan as he would regularly accompany his father into the
woods to perform field research. While studying at Armstrong
State University in Savannah, Georgia, Jordan cofounded the
Terrapin Educational Research Program of Savannah (T.E.R.P.S).
After graduation, he relocated to Texas to become an animal care
and outreach technician for the Houston Zoo. There he began
working with the Turtle Survival Alliance through the North
American Freshwater Turtle Research Group. Ultimately, Jordan
hopes to utilize his passion for educational outreach to foster an
appreciation for turtles and tortoises as well as promote stewardship
of their habitats.
"Zero turtle extinctions in the 21st century"
a bold pledge by an emboldened group
of chelonian conservationists. The Turtle
Survival Alliance (TSA) is in its 17th
year of this commitment to the tortoise
and freshwater turtle species of the six
continents on which they reside. Created
in 2001 in response to "The Asian Turtle
Crisis," the title given to the rampant and
unsustainable harvest of Asian turtles, the
TSA has since expanded to create a global
chelonian conservation network.
During its first four years, the TSA oper-
ated as a task force for the IUCN's (World
Conservation Union) Tortoise and Fresh-
water Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG).
In 2005, the TSA sought an independent
501(c)(3) nonprofit status, with a home
base at the Fort Worth Zoo, Texas. As the
TSA's global reach grew, so did its need
for restructuring, and a Board of Directors
was instituted in 2009. With this growth
also came the need for the construction of
a facility to house and provide assurance
colonies for some of the world's most
endangered species of chelonians. Thus,
the Turtle Survival Center, now home
to 700 specimens, was created in the back-
woods of coastal South Carolina.
The Turtle Survival Alliance continues to
be a global force in the effort to provide
dynamic in situ and ex situ conservation
initiatives including breeding programs,
assurance colonies, and management
plans; field research and culturally sen-
sitive conservation initiatives; hands on,
readable, and viewable public outreach;
and sharing information, techniques, and
communication throughout the chelonian
conservation community. Through work-
ing collaborations with zoos, aquariums,
universities, private turtle enthusiasts,
veterinarians, government agencies, and
conservation organizations, the TSA is
widely recognized as a catalyst for turtle
conservation, with a reputation for swift
and decisive action.
As anthropogenic threats such as habitat
loss, poaching, and pollution continue to
wreak havoc on turtle and tortoise popu-
lations worldwide, the TSA is committed,
now more than ever, to fight for the pres-
ervation of these animals.
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
2
PARTNERS
Partners are the Key to Our Success
The Turtle Survival Alliance is proud to acknowledge the following organizations that make our work possible. The organizations
listed here provide a range of services supporting our mission, including guidance, networking, strategic planning, funding,
husbandry, rescue, animal management, marketing and public relations, field research, logistical and technical support, salaried
positions, and other resources.
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 3
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
New Board Members Appointed
The TSA welcomed two new members this year to our Board of
Directors, Kim Lovich and Tim Gregory, PhD. Kim continues to
uphold the tradition of solid support and backing of San Diego Zoo
Global. Tim "hit the ground running" and has already made a huge
impact on the TSA and now chairs our Development Committee.
We look forward to many years of working with these energetic and
resourceful champions for turtle conservation.
KIM LOVICH is currently San Diego Zoo Global's Curator of Herpe-
tology & Ichthyology where she manages one of the world's largest
and most diverse living herpetological collections. Kim has over 27
years' experience working at Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(AZA) facilities. She has managed and helped establish head-start
programs for Green Sea Turtles and Tailed Frogs in Canada, Fiji
Iguanas in Fiji, West African Slender-snouted Crocodiles in Cote
d'Ivoire, and Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs and Western Pond
Turtles in California. Kim is an accomplished scientific illustrator
and has published drawings, book chapters, and papers, all relating
to reptile and amphibian taxonomy, husbandry standards, and field
monitoring techniques. She manages the Fijian Banded Iguana SSP
and conservation fund and is actively involved in crocodilian con-
servation initiatives as well, serving in leadership roles for both the
Gharial and the West African Slender-snouted Crocodile and in the
IUCN's Iguana and Crocodile Specialist Groups. Kim's primary focus
continues to be on the managed care of herpetological collections with
emphasis on head-start and assurance colony capacity building with
the ultimate goal of recovery of endangered and threatened species.
TIM GREGORY retired in 2007 after 24 years in the biopharmaceutical
industry. His primary area of research was vaccine development for
the prevention of HIV infection and AIDS, and he has more than
75 peer reviewed publications to his name. He was progressively
promoted to positions of increased responsibility, to Staff Scientist
and Senior Director of Process Sciences at one of the nation's
leading biotechnology companies, Genentech, Inc. Since 2007, Tim
has been an entrepreneur in the biopharmaceutical industry and was
an initial investor and active advisor in StemCentrx, Inc., focusing
on development of oncology drugs designed to eliminate cancer
stem cells.
But Tim has two true passions in life: chelonians and plants. He has
botanical expertise in multiple plant groups with special emphasis
in the cycads, having described five species from Mexico. He is an
advisor on cycad taxonomy and horticulture to the U.C. Botanical
Garden (UCBG) and is a founding member of the Directors Advi-
sory Board for UCBG and Chairman 2011-2015. He is a principal
Scientific Advisor on botanical research at The Huntington Library
and Botanical Garden, San Marino, CA. Tim loves Mexico and
since 2004 has participated in numerous botanical exploration trips
there. He has been a member of the IUCN Cycad Specialist Group
since 2000 and is Chairman of the Conservation Committee. Tim
currently serves on the BOD of the Cactus and Succulent Society of
America and is Chairman of their Conservation Committee. Most
importantly, Tim has loved turtles since age eight.
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
4
TSA Programs make an Impact for 20 of the Top 25 Most
Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles
Rick Hudson, Andrew Walde, Patricia Koval, and Jordan Gray
The conservation organizations collectively known as the Turtle Conservation Coalition released "Turtles in Trouble: The World's 25+ Most
Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles2018" in February 2018. This report, which follows the previous report published in 2011,
reviews the top 50 most at-risk species of tortoises and freshwater turtles. These 50 chelonians are selected based on survival prospects
and extinction risks for the individual species. The Turtle Conservation Coalition is composed of biologists from the Chelonian Research
Foundation, Conservation International, Global Wildlife Conservation, IUCN/SSCTortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, Turtle
Conservancy, Turtle Conservation Fund, Turtle Survival Alliance, and Wildlife Conservation Society.
Turn the page to see how the TSA makes an impact for 20 of the top 25 chelonians listed in the 2018 report!
FEATURE
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 5
Red-crowned Roofed Turtle (Batagur kachuga) The
TSA-India program works to protect this species in the
Chambal River of India through nest protection and head
starting efforts. Photo credit: Saurav Gawan
Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska) Our
TSA-India and Bangladesh programs work to re-establish
this species in the Sundarbans, as well as maintain
assurance colonies for the species at multiple locations in
both countries. Photo credit: Shailendra Singh
Ploughshare Tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora)
Driven to near extinction by the illegal wildlife trade, the
TSA receives and rehabilitates confiscated tortoises for an
assurance colony. Photo credit: Maurice Rodriguez
Burmese Roofed Turtle (Batagur trivittata) The
TSA-Myanmar program works in collaboration with the
Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar Forest Department,
and the Yadanabon Zoo to protect the last remaining
individuals of this species in the wild and maintain captive
assurance colonies in Myanmar. Photo credit: Brian Horne
Burmese Star Tortoise (Geochelone platynota) The
TSA works in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation
Society and Forest Department to restore wild populations in
Myanmar. Additionally, we maintain multiple assurance
colonies for this species in Myanmar and the United States.
Photo credit: Kalyar Platt
Hoge's Side-necked Turtle
(Mesoclemmys hogei)
The TSA collaborates with
Rainforest Trust and the NGO
Biodiversitas to protect critical
habitat and study the ecology
of this species in Brazil.
Photo credit: Brian Horne
Dahl's Toad-headed Turtle
(Mesoclemmys dahli)
The TSA-Colombia program
in collaboration with the
Wildlife Conservation Society
and university partners
studies this species in
Colombia, and works to
protect critical habitat.
Photo credit: German
Forero-Medina
Central American River Turtle
(Dermatemys mawii)
The TSA collaborates with
the Belize Foundation for
Research and Environmental
Education (BFREE) to
maintain an assurance
colony, conducts field surveys,
and promote community
awareness activities for this
species in Belize.
Photo credit: Dustin Smith
Yunnan Box Turtle (Cuora yunnanensis) Long
feared extinct, this species was recently rediscovered.
The TSA assisted the Kunming Institute of Zoology in
creating captive habitats for breeding this species in
China. Photo credit: Cris Hagen
The TSA directly impacts the
survival of 20 of the world's Top
25 most endangered tortoises
and freshwater turtles.
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
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Golden-headed Box Turtle (Cuora
aurocapitata) Near extinct in the wild,
the TSA maintains an assurance colony of
this species at our Turtle Survival Center
to help ensure their survival.
Photo credit: Jordan Gray
McCord's Box Turtle (Cuora mccordi)
Functionally extinct in the wild, the
TSA maintains an assurance colony to
ensure the survival of this species at
our Turtle Survival Center.
Photo credit: Cris Hagen
Three-striped Box Turtle (Cuora
trifasciata) Near extinct in the wild, the
TSA maintains this species at our Turtle
Survival Center. Photo credit: Peter
Praschag
Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle
(Rafetus swinhoei) The world's
rarest and most endangered
turtle, the TSA works in
collaboration with the Wildlife
Conservation Society and Suzhou
Zoo to reproduce the last pair of
this species through artificial
reproductive technology.
Photo credit: Gerald Kuchling
Vietnamese Pond Turtle
(Mauremys annamensis)
Extinct in the wild, the TSA
maintains an assurance colony
of this species at our Turtle
Survival Center to help ensure
their survival.
Photo credit: Rick Reed
Palawan Forest Turtle
(Siebenrockiella leytensis)
The TSA assisted in a
multi-organizational effort to
triage and return nearly 4,000
confiscated turtles to the
streams of Palawan, Philippines.
Photo credit: Turtle Conservancy
Sulawesi Forest Turtle (Leucocephalon
yuwonoi) The TSA supports field
initiatives for this species in Sulawesi as
well as maintains an assurance colony at
our Turtle Survival Center.
Photo credit: Cris Hagen
Rote Island Snake-necked Turtle
(Chelodina mccordi) Functionally
extinct in the wild, the TSA maintains an
assurance colony of this species at our
Turtle Survival Center to ensure their
survival. Photo credit: Cris Hagen
Southeast Asian Narrow-headed
Softshell Turtle (Chitra chitra) The
TSA has sent veterinary support to assist
with high-mortality issues with this species
in Thailand. Photo credit: Gerald Kuchling
Southern River Terrapin (Batagur
affinis) The TSA collaborates with the
Wildlife Conservation Society, The Royal
Government of Cambodia's Fisheries
Administration, and Wildlife Reserves
Singapore to protect, repatriate, and
maintain assurance colonies for the last
known population of this species in
Cambodia. Photo credit: Mengey Eng
Zhou's Box Turtle (Cuora zhoui) Wild
populations of this turtle are not known to
exist. The TSA maintains an assurance
colony of this species at our Turtle
Survival Center, and works with the
Mnster Zoo to manage genetic diversity
in the captive population. Photo credit:
Torsten Blanck
The TSA positively impacts
approximately 1/3 of all species
of tortoises and turtles on Earth.
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 7
In early June 2017, the TSA's Cris Hagen,
Director of Animal Management, and
Clinton Doak, Chelonian Keeper, escorted
the first international exchange of captive
bred Zhou's Box Turtles (Cuora zhoui).
This critically endangered box turtle has a
known total worldwide population of less
than 150 individuals. Only about 30 of
those individuals are wild caught animals.
The rest are the result of captive breeding,
with a high percentage of those offspring
coming from just two wild-caught adult
pairs in Germany. This is the only described
species of turtle in the world that has yet to
be documented in the wild and is currently
believed to originate somewhere along
the border area of northern Vietnam and
Guangxi Province, China.
The International Center for the Conser-
vation of Turtles (IZS) at the Mnster
Zoo is managed by Elmar Meier and is
one of the most successful endangered
turtle breeding facilities in the world. The
Mnster Zoo received three captive-bred
subadult females bred from wild-caught
parents in the U.S. in exchange for two
unrelated captive-bred males. Now the last
known females residing in the U.S. have
a renewed chance to contribute offspring
for the future of the species, and the IZS
has obtained a valuable new bloodline to
bolster the genetic diversity in their highly
successful breeding program.
TSA staff spent one week in Germany and
Austria visiting and exchanging information
with three institutional and nine private
turtle collections, including the top Cuora
breeders in Europe. This type of networking
is crucial to gain experience and knowl-
edge about the many different ways of
successfully managing captive populations
of turtles.
International Exchange Improves Survival Outlook
for Zhou's Box Turtle
A mature captive bred male Zhou's Box Turtle (Cuora zhoui) from The International Centre for the Conservation of Turtles at Allwetterzoo Mnster sent to the
United States for captive conservation efforts. PHOTO CREDIT: ELMAR MEIER
Cris Hagen
ZHOU'S BOX TURTLE EXCHANGE
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
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From left to right, Cris Hagen (TSA Director of Animal Management), Dr. Thomas Wilms (Director, Allwetterzoo Mnster), and Elmar Meier (ICCT) unpack
three captive bred female Zhou's Box Turtle (Cuora zhoui) upon their arrival from the United States to Germany for the first international bloodline exchange for
one of the world's most critically endangered turtle species. PHOTO CREDIT: CLINTON DOAK
A Zhou's Box Turtle peers out of its habitat at the International Centre for
the Conservation of Turtles (ICCT) at the Mnster Zoo. The ICCT has been
maintaining breeding groups of Zhou's Box Turtles since its inception
in 2003. To date, the ICCT has produced ~100 offspring, which is by far
the most successful captive conservation breeding effort of C. zhoui
anywhere in the world. Continued collaborative efforts and bloodline
exchanges will be crucial for the long-term management of this extremely
rare species. PHOTO CREDIT: CRIS HAGEN
Typical mating behavior, including neck biting, is exhibited between a
captive pair of Zhou's Box Turtles at the Turtle Survival Center in South
Carolina. Captive reproduction of C. zhoui in the United States has been
sporadic and limited. The first successful hatching took place in 2004 at
David Lee's Tortoise Reserve in North Carolina. In total, 11 offspring have
been produced in the United States; all but two from a single founder
pair. PHOTO CREDIT: CRIS HAGEN
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 9
Now in its fifth year, the Turtle Survival Center (TSC) continues to grow in size and in number of successfully bred species. Captive
reproduction at the TSC was lower in the 2017 season than expected. However, there were a few species that did very well, such as
Vietnamese Pond Turtles (Mauremys annamensis), Red-necked Pond Turtles (Mauremys nigricans), and Big-headed Turtles (Platysternon
megacephalum). Other hatchlings include the Southeast Asian Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis), Indochinese Box Turtle (Cuora galbinifrons),
Yellow-margined Box Turtle (Cuora flavomarginata), McCord's Box Turtle (Cuora mccordi), Southern Vietnam Box Turtle (Cuora picturata),
Indian Spotted Pond Turtle (Geoclemys hamiltonii), Spiny Hill Turtle (Heosemys spinosa), Serrated Hinge-back Tortoise (Kinixys erosa),
and Beale's Eyed Turtle (Sacalia bealei). Successful reproduction of Cuora mccordi, Cuora picturata, and Geoclemys hamiltonii are firsts
for the TSC.
This hatchling McCord's Box Turtle (Cuora mccordi) was discovered in the
spring in an adult enclosure and is a first for the TSC.
PHOTO CREDIT: CRIS HAGEN
These Indochinese Box Turtles (Cuora galbinifrons) offspring are hatched
from an adult group rescued in 2002 from a market in Hong Kong by a con-
cerned citizen and donated to the TSC in 2015. PHOTO CREDIT: CLINTON DOAK
The TSC has been successfully reproducing Big-headed Turtles (Platysternon
megacephalum) for the past three years. PHOTO CREDIT: CRIS HAGEN
The TSC hatched it's first Indian Spotted Pond Turtles (Geoclemys hamiltonii)
in 2017. PHOTO CREDIT: CRIS HAGEN
Two Beale's Eyed Turtles (Sacalia bealei) were hatched at the TSC this year.
PHOTO CREDIT: CRIS HAGEN
The TSC had a pleasant surprise this September when this hatchling Southern
Vietnam Box Turtle (Cuora picturata) was discovered in an adult enclosure. This
hatchling is the first successful reproduction for this species at the TSC.
PHOTO CREDIT: CRIS HAGEN
Significant Breedings
TURTLE SURVIVAL CENTER
Cris Hagen
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
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One of seven Forsten's Tortoises hatched at the Turtle
Survival Center since 2016. PHOTO CREDIT: JORDAN GRAY
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 11
TURTLE SURVIVAL CENTER
Construction at the Turtle Survival Center
The Turtle Survival Center (TSC) contin-
ues to grow in leaps and bounds. For the
2016/2017 construction cycle, we broke
ground on two major construction projects.
Our largest project to date, we began
construction of a second Cuora Complex
in October 2016. When completed, this
complex will provide enough enclosures
for the remaining founder pairs of the
genus Cuora currently at the TSC, as well
as provide some additional rearing space
for juveniles. The finished complex will
contain a total of 90 enclosures - including
75 semi-terrestrial and 15 aquatic enclo-
sures - and measure 33.5 m by 12.2 m (110
ft. by 40 ft.). Throughout the winter months
(i.e., construction season), we focused on
the foundation, including laying concrete
block, installing drainage and fill lines,
handcrafting concrete ponds, and erecting
the steel frame for fencing and shade cloth.
None of this would have been possible
without numerous volunteers spending
countless hours helping at every stage. This
complex is scheduled to be completed in
the 2017/2018 construction season in time
for breeding pairs to be move in mid-spring.
In 2016, we began outlining an intern pro-
gram at the TSC. We were very fortunate to
secure funding to establish housing needed
to implement the program. When we initial-
ly renovated the site of the TSC, a resi-
dence was removed so a site was available.
However, after several years of growth, we
had to remove trees and grade the site with
heavy machinery, ensure the septic and
water lines were still properly working, and
more. After site preparation was complete
and the house landed, we called on a few
local contractors who assisted us when we
needed expert advice and skill sets. After
installing a handicap accessible deck, new
HVAC system, and electric meter, we were
ready for interns. This housing unit imme-
diately expanded our educational capacity.
Our first two interns completed the summer
2017 program and we were able to host
international staff after the TSA confer-
ence. For more information about the TSC
internship program, be sure to see the call
for applicants on page 14.
Nathan Haislip
The Cuora Complex II is the largest structure erected to date at the TSC and will provide homes for many breeding pairs of Asian box turtles, genus Cuora.
PHOTO CREDIT: NATHAN HAISLIP
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
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TSC Facilities Manager and Lead Keeper Nathan Haislip leads Kurt Buhlmann, Tim Gregory, Lonnie McCaskill, and other guests out of the Cuora Complex.
PHOTO CREDIT: STEVEN IVES
TSC TOUR
This August, the Turtle Survival Alliance provided an exclu-
sive opportunity for TSA Members to tour our Turtle Survival
Center in Cross, South Carolina. Attended by over 180 guests,
the tour of our flagship assurance facility kicked off this year's
15th Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of
Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles. Split into 7 more intimate
groups, the attendees were given the opportunity to closely
view, photograph, and learn about the facility and its roughly
700 inhabitants by the TSC's expert staff. After touring the
facilities, guests were treated to a catered lunch and cocktails,
providing an opportune environment for symposium goers to
make new connections and reconnect with past ones. The TSA
could not be more proud of the hard work put in by our em-
ployees and volunteers to share an instrumental piece toward
our mission of "zero turtle extinctions".
This new housing facility was completed in May 2017 and allows the TSC to host
an intern program as well as conduct training programs.
PHOTO CREDIT: NATHAN HAISLIP
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 13
Gerald Kuchling and other guests tour through the Sulawesi Forest Turtle enclosures in the Greenhouse. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVEN IVES
Deadline for Spring 2018 internship application is April 15th
Start Date can vary based on availability after May 1st
Key Benefits:
Gain hands-on experience with the day to day operations of a chelonian conservation center.
Work with and learn about many aspects of some of the most endangered


chelonians in the world.
Develop basic veterinary care techniques as they apply to captive chelonian husbandry.
For more information including responsibilities, expectations, qualifications, costs, and how
to apply visit our website, www.turtlesurvival.org/get-involved/chelonian-internships.
Lyndsi GIlbert
Regina Seiler
2018 INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
The Chelonian Internship Program is perfect for undergraduates and graduate students who
plan to pursue a career in conservation and captive management of turtles and tortoises.
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
14
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
2017: A Year of Expansion in Unexpected Places
NORTH AMERICAN FRESHWATER TURTLE RESEARCH GROUP
The 2017 survey year for the Turtle Sur-
vival Alliance's North American Freshwater
Turtle Research Group (TSA-NAFTRG) was
extremely eventful. Since joining the TSA in
2010, the group has found ways to expand
our reach through new study sites, participants,
and target species. 2017 continued this trend,
experiencing growth in all three areas.
TSA-NAFTRG embarked upon our 18th
year of continued study at our Florida
springs sites this March, beginning with a
collaborative project with Dr. Jerry Johnston
and Dr. Joe Mitchell at Ichetucknee Springs.
We successfully sampled this site for the
4th year, capturing over 300 turtles in two
days. This same trip continued with samples
at Wekiwa, Rock, Blue, Weeki Wachee,
Manatee, Fanning, and Peacock springs,
resulting in the capture of over 1,000 turtles
in a 10-day sampling session. Unfortunately,
for the first time in our 18-year monitoring,
this year's research has exposed a systemic
health issue among a number of the Log-
gerhead Musk Turtles (Sternotherus minor
minor) in Blue Springs. Additionally, we
have quantified a statistical drop-off in
occurrences of this species at Wekiwa and
Rock Springs. We are in the process of
looking into these issues and hope to have
answers soon.
Meanwhile, Texas saw the 5th year of sam-
pling at Comal Springs in New Braunfels.
During four quarterly trips to the site this
year, over 1,400 turtles were captured and
processed. Additionally, we have begun
a new off-shoot project at Comal Springs
examining the health of the local population
of Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra
serpentina). Throughout the history of this
project, only 22 snappers have been docu-
mented, nearly all with carapace pitting, skin
lesions, and extensive leech loads. This issue
presents a source of intrigue as a congruent
spring-fed habitat in close proximity to our
site has an abundance of this species with
minimal afflictions. To assist us in this effort,
Oklahoma City Zoo veterinarian Jennifer
D'Agostino successfully began taking blood
samples from specimens at the site this
November. We look forward to getting a
better understanding of what is occurring in
Comal. Stay tuned!
Our Florida team poses with an assemblage of freshwater turtles at our research site in Manatee Springs, Florida. PHOTO CREDIT: ANONYMOUS
Greyson Offermann and Michael Skibsted show
their TSA pride while holding two Texas Cooters in
New Braunfels, Texas. PHOTO CREDIT: JORDAN GRAY
Eric Munscher
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 15
2017 also marked the second year of sam-
pling Bull Creek, a tributary of Lake Austin.
Adjacent to the County Line on the Lake
barbecue restaurant in Austin, Texas, this
tributary is an extremely productive area for
freshwater turtles. Having performed only
three sampling sessions since September
2016, we've been able to capture and mark
over 500 individual specimens representing
six species. Moreover, the hospitality and
enthusiasm of The County Line owners
and patrons has been equally incredible. The
County Line, in collaboration with Hops
and Grain Brewing and the TSA, hosted
"Turtlemania" on World Turtle Day in May,
and "Turtlemania 2" during our September
sampling event there. Both events were
celebrated under the TSA's popular theme of
"Drink Beer, Save Turtles!"
In Harris County, Texas, Eric Munscher
and his team have made new discoveries
in their studies of the Western Alligator
Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii).
The August and September trapping sessions
for this research project were unfortunately
canceled due to the landfall of Hurricane
Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane that brought
historic flooding and devastation not only to
Harris County but other large parts of East
Texas. More than a week after the hurricane
flooded the area, Texas Parks and Wild-
life Department contacted TSA-NAFTRG
Director Eric Munscher and scientist Jordan
Gray about a large, 90lb Western Alligator
Snapping Turtle that had been rescued off
of Memorial Drive adjacent to the Buffalo
Bayou at 4:00 AM that morning. The turtle
was taken to the Wildlife Center of Texas
where Eric and Jordan discovered that the
individual had been previously marked by
the team in February. The animal had moved
approximately 2,000 feet (600 m) from its
original collection location. Because this was
a historically significant flooding event in the
United States' history, this and future data
we collect may potentially provide quanti-
tative and qualitative information regarding
this species' ability to handle extreme flood-
ing events. Trapping will commence at this
site once water levels return to normal.
Up in Pennsylvania, TSA-NAFTRG scientist
Andrew Weber and the TurtleRoom Execu-
tive Director Steve Enders officially kicked
off our long-term North American Wood
Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) monitoring
project. In September, the team captured a
number of Wood Turtles at both of our study
sites. Continued sampling of these locations
will occur throughout the Autumn and start
again in the early Spring of 2018.
Lastly, we were able to welcome Marc
Dupuis-Dsormeaux into the TSA-NAF-
TRG fold. The TSA-NAFTRG owes much
of its expansion and success to its ability to
broaden our reach through volunteers and
collaboration. We invite everyone to join us
for our sampling sessions and find out what
it means when we say "We are turtle rich."
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Disney Wildlife
Conservation Fund, Disney VoluntEARS
grant, The Turtle Room, Sante Fe College
CONTACT: Eric Munscher, SWCA
Environmental Consultants 10245 West
Little York Road, Suite 600 Houston,
Texas 77040 [emunscher@swca.com]
Steve Enders (left) and Andy Weber measure the plastron of a North American Wood Turtle at one of
our research sites in Pennsylvania. PHOTO CREDIT: JESSICA WEBER
Marc Dupuis-Dsormeaux

Marc Dupuis-Dsormeaux is a spatial ecologist who
works both in Kenya and in Canada. His PhD work
was conducted at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy,
where he studied landscape prey-traps at openings
in electrical fences meant for migrating elephants.
His work now focuses on hyena and lion landscape
partitioning as well as human-wildlife conflicts at
community sites near wildlife conservancies. In
Canada, Marc has studied raccoons (look for his
research on PBS Nature: Raccoon Nation), squirrels,
birds, and of course turtles! His turtle work is
three-fold: road mortality mitigation, population
studies, and habitat colonization. He leads a group
of citizen scientists who monitor roads in Toronto
for wildlife mortality in order to identify hot spots
and plan future mitigation. Marc is currently a
postdoctoral visitor at York University working with
the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority,
where he is examining how various turtle species
have colonized a wetland complex on a 500-ha
artificial peninsula in downtown Toronto.
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
16
TSA-NAFTRG Director Eric Munscher and Carl J.
Franklin measure the shell depth of a 70lb (32kg)
male Western Alligator Snapping Turtle.

PHOTO CREDIT: JULIA SCRUGGS
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 17
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Rick Hudson, Christina Castellano and Herilala Randriamahazo
MADAGASCAR
Refining A Multifaceted Strategy to Address the Extinction
Crisis of Madagascar's Radiated Tortoise
The imperative to halt the extinction crisis of Madagascar's imperiled
Radiated Tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) has grown into the TSA's
largest and most complex range country program. Together with our
partner, Utah's Hogle Zoo (UHZ), we launched an ambitious and
comprehensive Confiscation to Reintroduction Strategy that involves
four critical components, each of which must work in tandem for the
plan to be successful over the long term. These components include:
law enforcement, community engagement, reintroduction/field site
conservation, and at the heart of all these activities, our Tortoise
Conservation Center (TCC). Recent strategic planning exercises have
identified the need to expand each of these elements, including new
staff, facilities, training, equipment, and resources, all of which
translate to the need to greatly expand our budget for this program.
A REFUGEE CAMP FOR TORTOISES: CONFISCATIONS
CONTINUE TO MOUNT
While the number of tortoise confiscations decreased in 2017, TSA
Madagascar is now responsible for the care of over 8,000 tortoises
with 6,700 of these at the TCC, another 1,000 at the new center in
Itampolo, and the rest at our triage center in Antananarivo (Tana).
We are essentially running refugee camps for tortoises that have
been displaced by an incessant trade in both adults for bush meat and
juveniles for illegal pet markets in Asia.
The vast majority are Radiated Tortoises, but also include 100 Northern
Spider Tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides brygooi), eight Southern Spider
Tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides oblonga), and 16 Ploughshare Tortoises
(Astrochelys yniphora). We had to significantly increase our animal
care staff and now have ten tortoise keepers, including two Leads, at
the TCC and Tana, with another Lead needed in Itampolo within the
foreseeable future.
Despite the escalating tortoise poaching crisis and the need for
continuous expansion, the exceptionally low mortality rate that we
This young Ploughshare Tortoise survived an arduous journey, being confiscated in India and then returned to the TSA's triage unit in Madagascar. This represents
a stellar example of two TSA country programs working in tandem to secure a future for this critically endangered tortoise. PHOTO CREDIT: SHEENA KOETH
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
18
are experiencing (less than 1% once tor-
toises reach the TCC) is a cause for hope
in our fight to preserve Madagascar's
beleaguered tortoises. The astonishingly
high survival rate is due primarily to the
expertise and dedication of our staff veter-
inarian, Ny Aina Tiana Rakotoarisoa, who
works tirelessly to ensure proper husband-
ry and veterinary care for our tortoises
immediately following confiscations at the
Ivato airport in Tana, and while visiting
the TCC and various triage centers in the
south on a regular basis. The 8,000+ pop-
ulation of tortoises that the TSA currently
cares for will certainly grow while we
refine our reintroduction strategy in 2018.
TORTOISE CONSERVATION CENTER
New facilities at the TCC include a tortoise
hospital and treatment center, courtesy of
our friends at the British Chelonia Group,
a dining/meeting pavilion, and expanded
staff quarters and office space. We also
have two four-wheel drive trucks donated
by Utah's Hogle Zoo, which have become
essential as we are increasingly called upon
to move tortoise confiscations or respond to
poaching threats.
In addition to the constant need to build new
Radiated Tortoise enclosures, we now have a
home for our group of Pyxis a. oblonga. We
expect this group to thrive here as the natural
forest within the TCC supports a free-ranging
population of this subspecies.
As well as providing refuge for confiscated
endangered tortoises, the TCC provides
protected thorn forest habitat to other native
fauna, integrating the center's primary role
with broader ecosystem preservation. Along
with the discovery of wild Southern Spider
Tortoises within the TCC, the protected
forest area serves as a corridor for ranging
troupes of Ring-tailed Lemurs and provides
refuge to at least one species of nocturnal
lemur. The bird life is particularly diverse
and abundant here as well, largely because
of the availability of water. Unfortunately,
our water supply was interrupted this year
because of a pump failure down the line and
staff are spending valuable time transporting
water from a nearby river, necessitating
improvements to our water catchment and
storage capacity in 2018.
Plans for 2018 include Phase I of our Com-
munity Outreach Center (COC), which was
supported by a special fundraising event
called ZooBrew at UHZ. To be built on a
site just outside the fenced core TCC area,
the COC will help us engage the four local
communities, collectively known as the Ala
Mahavelo Association. This coalition has
donated 200+ hectares of good spiny-forest
habitat for our tortoise sanctuary, of which
eleven are fenced and under development.
It is imperative that we build strong and
lasting relations with the Association so
they regard the TCC as an asset which they
are proud of and want to protect. Currently,
these four communities benefit from receiving
water from the TCC while selling us tortoise
food; we also employ village members as
keepers, guards and gardeners.
Another important need for 2018 is to vastly
expand our solar power storage capacity
which is closely tied to our need to improve
security at the TCC. In the not-too-distant
future we will build dormitory space for
senior staff and visiting scientists and guests,
a permanent kitchen/cooking area, and secu-
rity stations for our guards.
ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES HAVING
AN IMPACT
The brave work of our Enforcement Officer
Sylvain Mahazotahy is beginning to be felt
throughout the southern region. A film crew
led by Chris Scarffe was trying to capture
evidence of tortoise poaching on camera
recently and found that this had become
increasingly difficult to do. In towns such as
Beloha, where just a few years ago signs of
poaching, selling, and eating tortoises were
blatant, these activities had been pushed
underground or shifted to other areas. People
interviewed were jumpy and reported that
it had gotten too dangerous and too many
people had been jailed.
Mahazotahy reported that in 2016, within the
Beloha district, 2,770 tortoises were confis-
cated with 14 poachers arrested and eleven
of them imprisoned, whereas in 2017, only
211 tortoises were confiscated with eleven
poachers being arrested and jailed. He
believes the decline in tortoise trafficking is
due the fact that many poachers are already
in jail. Our challenge is to keep the pressure
The new tortoise clinic at the TCC was funded largely with support from the British Chelonia Group and
provides spaces for diagnostics, treatment, and quarantine. PHOTO CREDIT: RICK HUDSON
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 19
up on poachers by expanding our network
of informants while providing them with
greater incentive.
We now know that many tortoises leave
the south via taxi-brousse headed north for
Mahajunga where they then leave the island
by boat. As a result of increased confiscations
at the Ivato airport, trade routes are also
shifting north in response. Mahazotahy needs
new staff with motorbikes based in poaching
hotspots, as well as funds to insert members of
our Tortoise Patrol on key taxi-brousse routes.
This program is working, but with the end
of a major foundation grant in 2017, our
challenge is to find resources to not only
continue our anti-poaching efforts but ramp
them up. It is also our responsibility to
improve security for Mahazotahy and his
family while he undertakes this increasingly
dangerous mission.
In addition to Mahazotahy's personal efforts,
Malagasy law enforcement must continue to
be proactive, for which UHZ recently donated
a motorbike to the mayor of Lavanono to
enable his team to more effectively patrol
for poaching activity. Lavanono is located
nearby to one of the most notorious poaching
villages in the south, a settlement uncom-
fortably close to Cap Sainte Marie Special
Reserve (CSM), arguably the most important
tortoise population in Madagascar. Improved
patrolling in this area is essential.
ENGAGING COMMUNITIES IS CRITICAL TO
LONG-TERM SUCCESS
There can be no mistake that the struggle to
preserve viable wild populations of Radi-
ated Tortoises will depend on the willing-
ness of local communities to protect them.
Some communities need little incentive to
protect tortoise populations on their land
and keep poachers out, while others require
some carrots. Our challenge going forward
is to identify healthy tortoise populations
and to learn from the nearby villages why
they protect them, or, if they are not pro-
tecting them, what can be done to improve
their willingness to do so. This is closely
tied to our reintroduction strategy which
involves finding populations of tortoises
that have been depleted by poaching that
can be restored by releases, a tactic that
can only succeed if the local community is
a willing participant.
Determining this is the responsibility of our
community outreach team who conducts
surveys to identify sites in need of protec-
tion or that are suitable for a reintroduction.
Currently we engage the following commu-
nities: Antsakoamasy, strategically located
near CSM, where we built a school in 2012;
Lavanono (see above); Ampotaka, the site of
our soft-release research by Andrea Currylow;
Tranovaho, the site of several large-scale
poaching incidents; Antanimora, a potential
future reintroduction site with good forests
but depleted populations. Investigating these
sites and associated communities is the
responsibility of Riana Rakotondrainy, Syl-
vain Mahazotahy, and Monja Rampanarivo
who conduct both faunal and floral surveys
and speak with community leaders to better
understand their needs, concerns, and most
importantly, feelings about having tortoises
in their communities.
REFINING OUR REINTRODUCTION
STRATEGY: LOCATION, LOCATION,
LOCATION
Building on the lessons learned by Andrea
Currylow's research at Ampotaka, where
she tested the effects of penning for varying
periods (soft release) to increase site fidelity
following reintroduction, we plan to refine
our strategy for this very important compo-
nent before proceeding further. For reintro-
ductions to be successful, there must be a
careful interplay between good science and
sound community engagement.
Despite some challenges with collection
of radio-tracking and GPS data following
our soft releases at Ampotaka, our findings
in Madagascar coupled with information
gained from the Burmese Star Tortoise
recovery program have provided a basis for
moving forward with reintroductions. What
is missing is a coherent strategy whereby we
systematically identify potential sites, based
largely on intact habitat, and then evaluate
them based on a set of objective criteria.
Those criteria include the presence or ab-
sence of tortoises, recent poaching activity,
presence of feral dogs, attitudes of local
communities toward tortoises, and commu-
nity willingness to support and participate in
tortoise reintroductions. Site identification and
Adult Radiated Tortoises at the TCC congregated for feeding. PHOTO CREDIT: HERILALA RANDRIAMAHAZO
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
20
TCC keepers Maharavo Augustin; left and Mbala help
care for tortoises that recently arrived from Antanarivo.
Soaking to rehydrate tortoises following transport
is an important step before being released into the
large natural enclosures. PHOTO BY CHRIS SCARFFE
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 21
careful evaluation are critical to this process, and building
strong relationships with local communities does not happen
quickly. Based on these factors we have decided to step
back and more thoroughly refine our strategy in 2018 before
proceeding with another tortoise reintroduction.
IT'S FINALLY OFFICIAL!
After years of working with the Madagascar government on
handling confiscated tortoises, the Ministry of Environment,
Ecology and Forestry (MEEF) has formalized a new ten-year
accord with the TSA. This agreement includes recognition
of an official role for the TSA in Ploughshare Tortoise
conservation, a long-awaited step. We will soon be expected
to present a management plan to MEEF, and discussions are
already underway to develop a highly secure facility at the
TCC for Angonoka, provide training for our security staff,
hire gendarmes, and vastly expand our solar capacity to
permit improved security measures such as motion-activated
lights, alarms, and cameras.
Engaging Zoos and Aquariums in Radiated
Tortoise Conservation through AZA SAFE:
Saving Animals from Extinction
SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction is a conservation initiative created by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(AZA). The goal of SAFE is to build collaborative networks of zoos and aquariums to drive field-based conservation
actions for threatened species. The Radiated Tortoise SAFE program was established in 2017 by the TSA, UHZ and
Knoxville Zoo, to engage all AZA institutions that participate in the Species Survival Program (SSP) for the Radiated
Tortoise in its conservation. This SAFE program will focus on leveraging the collective resources and expertise within
the SSP community to successfully implement the Confiscation to Reintroduction Strategy. The Radiated Tortoise
SAFE program moving forward will provide exciting, hands-on opportunities for these institutions to help ensure a
future for this species in the wild.
Tortoises are unpacked and cleaned up prior to being soaked and released into a newly
built enclosure. Tortoises acclimate quickly to their new surroundings and many began
feeding on papaya within minutes of being released. PHOTO CREDIT: RICK HUDSON
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The TSA extends its gratitude
to the following organizations and donors for their
support to the Madagascar Tortoise Conservation
Program: Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable
Trust, British Chelonia Group, Turtle Conservation
Fund, Owen Griffiths/Francois Leguat Ltd., Nature's
Own, Knoxville Zoo, Radiated Tortoise SSP, and
Utah's Hogle Zoo.
CONTACT: Rick Hudson, Turtle Survival Alliance, 1989
Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth, TX 76110

[RHudson@turtlesurvival.org]
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
22
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Heather Barrett
BELIZE
Improved Breeding Success Leads to Growing Pains at the
Hicatee Conservation and Research Center
The Central American River Turtle (Der-
matemys mawii) is the only living species
in the family Dermatemydidae, an ancient
lineage dating back 65 million years. Once
abundant across southern Mexico, Belize,
and northern Guatemala, this Critically
Endangered species has been reduced to
remnant populations due to overhunting for
human consumption, with Belize as its final
stronghold. Locally known as Hicatee, popu-
lations continue to decline, and the species is
in need of greater protection and innovative
conservation actions.
Starting in 2010, the TSA began a fruitful
partnership with the Belize Foundation for
Research and Environmental Education
(BFREE), a US-based conservation organi-
zation that operates a biological field station
in southern Belize. Accomplishments include
the development of the Hicatee Conservation
and Research Center (HCRC) and the devel-
opment of a Belizean Hicatee stakeholder
group, the Hicatee Conservation Network,
which has held two important international
Hicatee symposia and continues to develop
outreach and education programs.
CAPTIVE BREEDING AT THE HCRC
Since 2014, HCRC has acquired 45 adult
turtles through confiscations, rehabs, and
wild stock. Along with protection of wild
populations, establishing captive breeding
colonies is critical to Hicatee conservation.
So little was known about the Hicatee that
prior to the creation of HCRC, this species
was considered difficult to maintain in cap-
tivity, with a dismal captive breeding record.
The results of the HCRC have been spectac-
ular. Successful nesting has taken place each
year, with a total of 137 eggs deposited to
date, reflecting 13 nests, with high rates of
hatching (80%). For the first time, captive
husbandry protocols have been established,
and information has been gathered about
nesting site preferences, clutch sizes, egg
incubation, diet preferences, growth rates of
juveniles including onset of sexual maturity,
and best management practices for reliably
breeding the species in a captive environment.
This has been a breakout year for the HCRC.
The addition of 19 adult females from confis-
cations in 2016, plus further improvements
to nesting areas, resulted in eleven nests
deposited between November 2016 and April
2017, a much wider window than previously
One of two breeding ponds at the HCRC which support a total of 45 adult Central American River Turtles. PHOTO CREDIT: RICK HUDSON
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 23
recorded for the species. Unlike the two pre-
vious nests in 2014 and 2015 that occurred
on dry soil within a few feet of the water's
edge, all eleven nests this past season were
found underwater in nest cavities deposited
in wet mud just below the surface of the
water.
Nests were found in each of two breeding
ponds and seemed to be placed randomly.
A total of 113 eggs were deposited, of which
79 hatched; clutches ranged in size from
seven to fourteen eggs (average of ten). Also
of note, we believe that one of the females
double clutched this year, a great sign for the
future production of this species in captivity.
We are expecting another ten to 20 clutches
of eggs starting later this year.
Next steps for the program include the
development of an integrated management
and recovery plan for the species.
FIRST ANNUAL HICATEE AWARENESS
MONTH
BFREE, the TSA, and members of the
Hicatee Conservation Network celebrated
the first ever Hicatee Awareness Month
in October 2017. The centerpiece was the
film "Hope for Belize's
Hicatee: Central American
River Turtle." Produced
by Emmy-award winning
filmmakers Richard and
Carol Foster, the film is a
short natural history docu-
mentary produced entirely
in Belize. It highlights the
significance of D. mawii
as a traditional food and
describes how overhar-
vesting is propelling the
species toward extinction.
Viewers are introduced to
the current work being done
to save the Hicatee and are
encouraged to become active participants.
The film was distributed both physically and
online. One hundred film DVDs along with
Hicatee Fact Sheets were mailed to primary
and secondary schools throughout the Belize
River Valley, and the film was sent via email
to over one thousand principals at schools
throughout Belize. Additionally, BFREE
worked closely with Belize media outlets to
produce Hicatee articles and make the film
available on television.
A strong social media presence was critical
to the success of this campaign, while an
online Hicatee Toolkit advised supporters
on how they could be a part of the month's
activities. Special dates of celebration, like
the first annual National Hicatee Day on
17 October, also played an important role
in keeping the momentum going by asking
followers to wear green and post #shellfies to
show their support for Hicatee conservation.
With the help of dedicated partners like
University of Belize's Environmental
Research Institute, Independence Junior
College, Sacred Heart Junior College, and
Crocodile Research Coalition, physical film
viewing events took place in addition to the
online push.
Although the long ingrained tradition of
eating Hicatee is the primary cause of its
decline, it is also precisely because of the
Hicatee's tremendous cultural value that
many Belizeans, including most Hicatee
hunters, are supportive of preserving the
species as both a valuable resource and a
point of national pride. With the success of
the breeding program at the HCRC and the
first ever Hicatee Awareness Month, the
Hicatee mantra, "The hicatee is disappearing,
but together we can save it," continues to
gain traction and support as new turtles are
born and attitudes and habits shift.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We would like
to thank Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Conservation Fund, Jacksonville Zoo and
Gardens, and Turtle Conservation Fund
for program funding and support. Special
thanks are in order to Nichole Bishop, Dr.
Thomas Rainwater, Mark Mummaw and
Grant Clay for their efforts in the acquisi-
tion and installation of the new hatchling
tanks. Additionally, we acknowledge the
following organizations and individuals:
Members of the Hicatee Conservation Net-
work, Richard and Carol Foster, Dr. Shane
Boylan, DVM, Dr. Isabelle Paquet- Durand,
Tyler Sanville, Jaren Serano, Manuel Balona,
Mallory Clark and Natalie Steckler.
CONTACT: Jacob Marlin, Belize Foundation
for Research & Environmental Education
(BFREE), 2602 NW 6th Street, Suite D,
Gainesville, FL 32609 [jmarlin@bfreebz.org]
2017 hatchlings are part of a feeding trial being conducted by BFREE
and University of Florida PhD candidate, Nichole Bishop.

PHOTO CREDIT: HEATHER BARRETT
These juvenile rearing tanks at the HCRC help
facilitate Nichole Bishop's nutritional research
while providing additional capacity for this
rapidly growing population.


PHOTO CREDIT: NICHOLE BISHOP
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
24
HCRC manager, Thomas Pop, literally has his hands
full! Over 80 Dermatemys mawii hatched at the
Hicatee Conservation & Research Center this year.
PHOTO CREDIT: SHAMAN MARLIN
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 25
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Som Sitha and Brian Horne
CAMBODIA
The Royal Turtle of Cambodia Mounts a Comeback
Thirteen November 2017 marked a special
day in the recovery of the Southern River
Terrapin (Batagur affinis) in Cambodia. For
the second time ever, the Royal Government
of Cambodia's Fisheries Administration
(FiA), WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society),
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), and
the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) released
a group of headstarted Southern River
Terrapins into their natural habitat in the
Sre Ambel River systemthe only place
in Cambodia where this species is found.
These turtles, locally known as the Royal
Turtle, hatched from nests protected in the
wild from nest predators and poachers.
After safely hatching, they were transferred
to our nearby headstarting facility. Since
2002, nearly 300 turtles have been part of
this program.
"FiA, in collaboration with WCS, has been
working to conserve the Royal Turtles for
nearly 20 years," said Mr. Ouk Vibol, Direc-
tor of Fisheries Conservation Department
of the FiA. "Efforts have ranged from nest
and habitat protection, to education and
awareness, to the construction by WCS and
FiA of the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation
Center for housing, rearing and breeding
the turtle species."
After undergoing health examinations by
WCS veterinarians, all 25 subadult turtles
were fitted with acoustic transmitters. These
transmitters will allow researchers to monitor
the turtles' survival and seasonal movements,
as well as gain a better understand of the
turtles' habitat use within the river.
We are optimistic about this most recent
release because we had success in 2015
when we released 21 Royal Turtles into the
Sre Ambel system. After nearly two years of
regular monitoring of this group we saw that
they were able survive in the wild after being
headstarted for five to seven years. Initially,
all but one turtle were relocated within 25 km
of the release site, however, three turtles then
made long distance movements of greater
than 100 km. These three turtles crossed the
Bay of Kampong Som and moved to a sep-
arate river system, the Preak Piphot River.
This is noteworthy as it demonstrated the
ability of the turtles to withstand the ocean's
salinity. The turtles use all parts of the river
from the headwaters to coastal mangrove,
and there is potential for turtles released
in the Sre Ambel River to recolonize other
river systems in Cambodia, if protection is
sufficient.
To underscore the long-tem potential for
recovery of this species in Cambodia, three
of the released turtles were accidentally
captured by local people; all were returned
unharmed and subsequently released back
into the river. These encouraging results
Som Sitha using a hydrophone to detect and locate released turtles. PHOTO CREDIT: WCS
Male Southern River Terrapin. PHOTO CREDIT: SHAILENDRA SINGH
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
26
show that our outreach and education efforts
have been effective in increasing the under-
standing of the importance of the Southern
River Terrapin among local communities.
SAND MINING BANNED
Working with the Fisheries Administration
(FiA) and Ministry of Mines and Energy
(MME), we set out to stop sand mining in
the Sre Ambel River system. Sand mining
is a major threat to turtles in the water,
and it also disrupts the natural river flow
and destroys nesting beaches. We provided
information on the movement of the released
headstarted turtles to MME as a means to
demonstrate how the turtles use the entire
river system and how disruptive sand mining
is to the ecology of the turtles. As a result,
MME issued a proclamation to cancel all
types of dredging in the river system. This
is a major milestone for the conservation of
the Southern River Terrapin in Cambodia
and is fundamental to the long-term survival
of the species.
NEST PROTECTION PROGRAM
In 2017, only one Southern River Terrapin
nest was found. Although this is down from
previous years, we believe the turtles may
be nesting in new locations and we plan to
expand our nesting surveys in 2018. Our
community nest protector team guarded this
lone nest, which resulted in nine hatchlings.
Shortly after hatching, the turtles were trans-
ferred to the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation
Center (KKRCC) for rearing.
Local people also located one nest of 51
eggs of Cantor's Giant Softshell Turtle
(Pelochelys cantorii) on the same beach as
the Southern River Terrapin nest. However,
like all nests of this species found since
2013, these eggs did not show any signs of
embryonic development. It is possible that
this is because there is no longer an adult
male in the area.
KOH KONG REPTILE CONSERVATION
CENTRE (KKRCC) UPDATE
The year was filled with many new advance-
ments at the KKRCC. Notably, during
2017 we finished the construction of three
breeding ponds and one quarantine pond.
A team of volunteers from the United States,
Singapore, and Cambodia aided in the labo-
rious task of lining the ponds with imported
pond liners. We also increased the capacity
of our rainwater catchment pond and pre-
pared a new area for future construction of
smaller, more specialized ponds for additional
species. Lastly, and very importantly, we
have been granted the transfer of two turtles
(a large female and a subadult male) from a
private individual within Cambodia. These
two turtles were ceremoniously donated to
the KKRCC during the grand opening of
the center in November 2017. They will aid
greatly in increasing the genetic diversity of
our breeding program.
DONOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: We would
like to thanks previous and current donors
for supporting this project including the
Alan and Patricia Koval Foundation, Wildlife
Reserve Singapore, Critical Ecosystem Part-
nership Fund, National Geographic Society,
Chicago Zoological Society, Jay Allen,
Turtle Survival Alliance, Turtle Conservation
Fund and other private donors.
CONTACT: Brian Horne [bhorne@wcs.org
and Som Sitha [ssom@wcs.org]
Cantor's Giant Softshell Turtle (Pelochelys cantorii)
Protection on the Mekong in Cambodia

The TSA/WCS team, in collaboration with Cambodian Fisheries Administration (FiA),
is now responsible for managing the Mekong Turtle Conservation Project. Since the
rediscovery of P. cantorii in 2007, Conservation International (CI) has been working to
conserve the species in the Mekong River through a program of nest protection and
headstart/release. The TSA/WCS program will focus primarily on nest protection and
outreach, working with local communities along a stretch of river that supports good
nesting habitat.
Since its rediscovery, the number of P. cantorii nests found has fluctuated. After a sharp
increase from nine nests (87 hatchlings) in 2007-2008 to 83 nests (1915 hatchlings) in
2012-2013, numbers decreased from 2013 due a shift in project scope and shortage of
funds. The 2016-2017 nesting season resulted in 49 nests with 819 hatchlings. Since
inception, the project has protected 378 nests, producing a total of 8,528 hatchlings.
DONOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: For donor support we want to gratefully recognize the Turtle
Conservation Fund, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and Conservation International for
recognizing the importance of this program.
Release ceremony of Cantor's Giant Softshell Turtle along the Mekong River by the FiA, authorities, local
people, monks, students and media outlets. PHOTO CREDIT: WCS
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 27
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Germn Forero-Medina1, Igor Valencia1, Natalia Gallego1,2
COLOMBIA
Five Years of the TSA Turtle Conservation
Program in Colombia
August 2017 marked the fifth anniversary of
the TSA/WCS Colombia Program. In those
five years, the program has focused on the
countrys most endangered and rare tortoise
and turtle species, developing science based,
on-the-ground approaches to solve some of
the most pressing challenges and knowledge
gaps for these species. We summarize here
some of the most significant achievements
and future directions of the program.
DUNNS MUD TURTLE
In 2012, we went on an expedition to gather
information on the Dunn's Mud Turtle
(Kinosternon dunni). Less than five speci-
mens of this elusive and endemic species
had been seen since its description by
Fred Medem in the late 1960's. Along with
colleagues from a local university and re-
search institute, we documented several new
localities for the species, including some that
belong to a Caribbean drainage, as opposed
to the Pacific ones previously reported. This
initiative resulted in a group of local biol-
ogists gaining interest and developing skills
for turtle research, eventually documenting
the species in several other localities in the
region. Unfortunately, the population being
studied has been affected by gold mining.
Future initiatives for this species include
studying its natural history and population
parameters and evaluating the effects of gold
mining across its range.
MAGDALENA RIVER TURTLE
The Sin River is home to the Magdalena
River Turtle (Podocnemis lewyana), which
for the fifth consecutive year was protect-
ed by a community-based conservation
program supported by the TSA. This species
is endemic to Colombia and is classified as
Critically Endangered by the IUCN. It is
threatened by overexploitation, and, at the
Sin River, by nest loss due to floods caused
by a hydroelectric dam. In response, one of
the main initiatives of the program is the
collection of clutches from flood-prone sites,
their artificial incubation, and the release of
the hatchlings at the nesting sites where they
were previously collected.
During these five years, the program has res-
cued more than 400 nests and released more
than 6,300 hatchlings to the river, which
would have been lost to floods otherwise
(Table 1). In 2016, we conducted a study
to evaluate egg viability when submerged
under water and demonstrated that after 36
hours, embryo survival dropped to nearly
zero. This confirms the importance of egg
rescue in this particular situation in the
Sin River. We also started a mark-recap-
ture study to monitor different population
A large group of basking Giant South American River Turtle in La Virgen, Colombia. PHOTO CREDIT: PATO SALCEDO
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
28
parameters and to evaluate the effectiveness
of the conservation actions that have been
implemented in the long term.
We are currently working on attaining
financial sustainability for the conservation
program by supporting ecotourism entrepre-
neurship created by the local organization
leading conservation activities, Econbiba.
Last year, Luis Carlos Negrete, manager of
Econbiba and community leader, was awarded
a Conservation Leadership Program Intern-
ship Grant to develop a business plan for
the ecotourism initiative. The expectation is
to use part of the income generated through
tourism to support the conservation activities
run by the community. Luis Carlos will im-
plement the business plan with the technical
and financial support of the TSA.
GIANT SOUTH AMERICAN RIVER TURTLE
The TSA/WCS team, working together with
Fundacin Omacha, identified in 2014 a
significant population of the species in La
Virgen in the Orinoco Region of Colombia.
With over 1,500 nesting females, this rep-
resents the second largest known popula-
tion of Giant South American River Turtle
(Podocnemis expansa) in the country and the
largest one outside of the Amazon region.
This species, the largest river turtle in South
America, is listed as Critically Endangered
by the IUCN. The exploitation of adult
females for consumption and trade has vastly
reduced its populations and threatens its sur-
vival. Consequently, identifying populations
like the one in La Virgen, and working with
them to conserve the species, is crucial.
During the last three years of the TSA's work
in La Virgen, the community has protected
more than 1,000 females every year, with
no harvest of adult females occurring on the
protected beaches. Nest harvesting by people
from other areas was also reduced signifi-
cantly. Only 0.34% nests were harvested in
protected beaches versus 31.8% in nearby
non-protected beaches, showing the success
of the surveillance during the nesting season.
The nesting female population seems to be
stable during this period (Figure). Natural rates
of nest loss are very high, due to sudden
increases in the level of the river (Table 2),
while hatching success is very high (82.8%).
While protection of females and nests has
been a success so far, the future of this initia-
tive will focus on achieving sustainability. In
the coming years, the TSA/WCS will work
with the community to develop strategies
that allow the community to benefit from
the conservation program. One first step
TABLE 1:
EGGS OF P. LEWYANA RESCUED FROM 2013 TO 2017 IN THE SIN RIVER.
TABLE 2.
NESTING SUCCESS OF P. EXPANSA IN LA VIRGEN, MIDDLE META RIVER, COLOMBIA.
Figure: Number of nesting females of Giant South American River Turtle in La Virgen, Colombia, since
2015. PHOTO CREDIT: PATO SALCEDO
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 29
is to develop a harvest model for the eggs,
which will allow the community to use this
resource in a sustainable and legal fashion.
Additionally, we will work to identify and
implement productive alternatives that can
bring income to the community to support
conservation activities. One such alternative
that will be evaluated is ecotourism, as this
is one of the few places in Colombia where it
is possible to observe large groups of basking
turtles in the wild.
DAHLS TOAD-HEADED TURTLE
Work with Dahl's Toad-headed Turtle
(Mesoclemmys dahli) has moved from
research on the species' range, abundance,
movements, and habitat requirements to
on-the-ground actions for its conservation.
Based on the science produced by the team,
we have implemented multiple strategies in
different localities across its range. In 2014,
we started a restoration project on 1.5 ha of
riparian vegetation in Cesar, where we had
been studying the population for over four
years. More recently, in 2016, we continued
this exercise, adding over 25 additional
hectares along streams in the same area the
species inhabit. Vegetation is growing and
improving the quality of the forests along the
streams, however, there is still no observed
response in the population of the species.
From 2014 to 2015, we thoroughly sampled
across the species range to evaluate its
abundance and collected samples for genetic
analyses. Results from this study indicate
high levels of inbreeding in all subpopula-
tions and very low population sizes. These
genetic and mark-recapture studies point to
a few localities where a protected area could
help maintain a population of individuals.
This species does not occur in any protected
area, so a priority in the near future is to find
a property to establish the first protected
area for the species. This preserve would
be essential to assure long-term survival of
the species and to implement genetic rescue
programs to reduce the potential negative
effects of inbreeding in the population. This
is where the efforts will be focused on the
following years for this species.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Tim Gregory,
Disney Conservation Fund, Fundacin
Mario Santodomingo, Ecopetrol, Wild-
life Conservation Society, Fundacin
Omacha, Peoples Trust for Endangered
Species.
CONTACT: 1Turtle Survival Alliance, Wild-
life Conservation Society, Cali, Colombia
2Universidad de Los andes, Bogot,
Colombia [gforero@wcs.org]
NEW MEMBER OF TSA COLOMBIA

Igor Valencia is the new Turtle Researcher
for the TSA Colombia Program. He is a
Biologist from Universidad Javeriana,
who started working with turtles during
an internship with TSA/WCS for the
P. lewyana project in Cotoc Arriba. Igor
has also worked with population viability
analysis for his undergraduate research.
He will be supporting all activities in the
field, communications and analysis of
data. His skill and enthusiasm will sure
help to move this program forward.
The community in Cotoc Arriba lead the community-based conservation program for Magdalena River Turtle in the Sin River. PHOTO CREDIT: TSA
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
30
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Gerald Kuchling
CHINA
3rd Attempt to Artificially Inseminate the Last Female
Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle
Semen collection by electro-ejaculation
and artificial insemination of the last pair
of Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle (Rafetus
swinhoei) in China unfortunately did not
produce any fertilized eggs in 2015 and
2016. In preparation for the new attempt on
15 April 2017, the male and the female were
separated in mid-October 2016 so that the
male would not lose sperm through unsuc-
cessful mating attempts during winter and
early spring.
The team and procedures underwent some
changes in 2017. Thomas Hildebrandt and
Susanne Holtze of the Department of Repro-
duction Management of the Leibniz Institute
for Zoo & Wildlife Research in Berlin teamed
up with Paul Calle of the Wildlife Conserva-
tion Society (WCS), Gerald Kuchling of the
Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), veterinarians
from the Suzhou Zoo and Changsha Zoo,
and representatives of WCS-China and the
China Zoo Society. Due to the male turtle's
heavily damaged penis, semen collection,
this time with a flexible probe, was again
challenging and only a small amount of
uncontaminated, high-quality semen could
be secured. State-of-the-art equipment not
available during previous insemination
attempts included a 3D-ultrasound system
and a flexible, battery-driven video-chip
endoscope with an integrated LED light
source. The light is necessary to position
golden-tipped guide wires through the
cloaca and into the openings of the oviducts.
These wires are then used as guides to push
insemination catheters into the oviducts.
We considered this method less invasive
and preferable to the insemination through
coelioscopy performed in 2016, however the
female had to be kept anaesthetized for much
longer to complete the procedure.
An additional challenge occurred for our
reproductive attempts in 2017: The Suzhou
Zoo relocated to a new location. The day
following the artificial insemination, the
Rafetus pair had to be moved into a tem-
porary pond at a different location. Despite
video surveillance, nesting was not observed
in this set up and it is currently unknown
if any eggs were fertilized in 2017. The
Rafetus pair is expected to move again into
a new enclosure in the new Suzhou Zoo
prior to the winter of 2017/2018 where the
male and the female can again be separated
for hibernation.
Assisted reproductive technology remains
our only hope to propagate a new generation
of the Giant Yangtze Softshell Turtle, and
we plan to repeat artificial insemination in
the spring of 2018 after additional trials with
other softshell turtle species.
CONTACT: Chelonia Enterprises, 28 Tokay
Lane, The Vines WA 6069, Australia
[Gerald.Kuchling@uwa.edu.au]
Artificial insemination of the Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle on 15 April 2017. From left: Susanne Holtze,
Lu Shunqing, Qui Qi Guan, Thomas Hildebrandt, Gerald Kuchling. PHOTO CREDIT: PAUL CALLE
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 31
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Joko Guntoro
INDONESIA
TSA Indonesia Produces Painted Terrapin Hatchlings
and New Local Conservationists
Indonesia is a vast nation of over 17,000
islands that spans both sides of the equator
from near the Malay Peninsula in southeast
Asia to the province of Papua on the west
side of the island of New Guinea. The bio-
diversity is similarly expansive, with a high
turtle diversity that includes at least three
endemic species.
Unfortunately, Indonesia also has one of the
most threatened turtle faunas in the world,
with five species listed in the 2011 IUCN's
25 World's Most Endangered Tortoises and
Freshwater Turtles. The Painted Terrapin
(Batagur borneoensis), the Southern River
Terrapin (Batagur affinis), the Rote Island
Snake-necked Turtle (Chelodina mccordi),
the Asian Narrow-Headed Softshell (Chitra
chitra), and the Sulawesi Forest Turtle
(Leucocephalon yuwonoi), as well as other
threatened species, make Indonesia a top-
priority country for the TSA.
The organization's first in situ initiative in
Indonesia focused on the Painted Terrapin.
Once widespread throughout southern
Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Malaysian
Borneo, and Sumatra, the Painted Terrapin
has disappeared from most of its former
range due to the unrestricted hunting of
adults, the collection of eggs, and habitat
destruction. One of the last and largest viable
populations of B. borneoensis is found
within the District of Aceh Tamiang in
Sumatra, Indonesia.
Since the TSA began its Painted Terrapin
conservation initiative with the first popu-
lation study in 2009, efforts to preserve this
beautiful river turtle have faced a number of
challenges including a near lack of scien-
tific literature about this species when the
program began. Other significant challenges
were financial and cultural. Working in
different ways with the 13 different villages
in the conservation area without arousing
jealousy or suspicions of favoritism amongst
them required expert social navigation. Con-
vincing fishermen to change their practices
to avoid drowning terrapins and limiting
consumption of turtle eggs among villages
that have harvested terrapin nests for hun-
dreds of years are other examples of issues
that demand cultural sensitivity and correct
social diplomacy. Fortunately, TSA Indone-
sia's adaptability and continuous commitment
to improvements have resulted in a Painted
Terrapin conservation program that has been
largely embraced by the local population.
HATCHLINGS RELEASED AND SURVIVAL
As of April 2017, 1,204 Painted Terrapin
hatchlings have been released into the wild.
Patrols seeking turtle nests are important
to this effort, and 317 of the total hatch-
lings resulted from nest patrols conducted
Close photographic examination of the juvenile Painted Terrapins basking here showed permanent shell notches, indicating them to be headstarted and
released turtles. PHOTO CREDIT: JOKO GUNTORO
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
32
between December 2016 and April 2017.
During this time, 26 nests were successfully
secured and 424 eggs were incubated at
the hatchery on the nesting beach, Pusong
Putus, near our patrol camp. The hatching
rate was 87.5%, a significant increase over
the 73% hatching in 2016. However, the
number of nests found decreased from
2016, resulting in less than half the overall
number of hatchlings for 2017.
We believe that the decreasing numbers of
discovered nesting sites in 2017 was influ-
enced by three factors: 1) excessive trash
on the beach, 2) beach erosion resulting in
less potential nesting area, and 3) increased
adult female mortality caused by drowning
in shrimp traps. We know of three females,
including a tagged individual, found dead
as a result of shrimp traps.
Despite this, there is more good news.
During field survey and monitoring, we
successfully recaptured a hatchling in March
2017 that had been tagged with a micro-
chip and released back in August 2016. In
addition, six sub-juvenile Painted Terrapins
were sighted basking on logs. Although their
position prevented us from seeing any iden-
tification marks they may have had on their
marginal carapaces, we estimated from their
size that these turtles were all between two
and three years old.
These two events mark our first recapture
of released hatchlings and first sighting of
sub-juvenile individuals since the Painted
Terrapin Conservation Project began. We are
extremely encouraged by these indications
of survivorship and, it is hoped, eventual
recruitment into the adult population. In ad-
dition, we are also investigating the genetic
variation among this year's hatchlings, with
genetic samples from 33 hatchlings collected
from saliva and marginal carapace scutes.
There is also good news regarding legal pro-
tection. To better protect the Painted Terrapin
in Aceh Tamiang, the local government has
issued a regulation prohibiting all harvesting
of turtles. Because locals have eaten turtle
eggs for many generations as an important
cultural tradition, a total ban on egg collect-
ing is not politically or socially feasible at
this time. However, new regulations have
been put in place permitting villagers to
consume 40% of eggs found in a nest, while
60% must be given to the government to be
hatched for conservation. Furthermore, egg
collectors must now possess a government
license. We helped draft the new regulations
by providing scientific guidance, and pro-
moted the new rules at public hearings.
COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION
Our Painted Terrapin awareness programs
have reached hundreds of villagers and we
are continually seeking to expand this edu-
cation initiative. Among our most ambitious
new programs to increase villager engage-
ment, empowerment, and sustainability for
the preservation of the Painted Terrapin and
its habitat will be setting the groundwork for
educational tourism. Although the logistics
and practical considerations of implementing
a successful ecotourism model are consid-
erable, we believe that it is possible in the
long run.
As an initial step, a Painted Terrapin In-
formation Center is being built, sponsored
by Pertamina EP Rantau, in Pusong Kapal
Village, Subdistrict of Seruway. This facility
will function as an information center and
entry point for visitors to learn about Painted
Terrapins and other local wildlife through
videos, presentations, and guide books before
being taken to see the nesting beaches by
boat. This conservation area is rich in wildlife,
and travel along the river will afford visitors
the opportunity to see Painted Terrapins, Salt-
water Crocodiles, Monitor Lizards, numerous
birds, and primates, such as Thomas' Leaf
Monkey and the Silvery Langur.
The Information Center will be owned by
the village government and managed by a
government approved community group
that we will advise and work with from
the onset. Profits from the Center will fund
conservation activities such as nest patrols.
Through the Center and its wildlife tourism,
we aim to empower local people to manage
their wildlife and biodiversity, including the
Painted Terrapin, as valuable resources and
icons of local cultural pride.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We would like to
thank the Turtle Survival Alliance, Houston
Zoo, Chester Zoo, Mohammed bin Zayed
Species Conservation Fund, and Pertamina
EP Field Rantau for support.
CONTACT: Joko Guntoro, Satucita Founda-
tion, Desa Bukit Rata, Kejuruan Muda, Aceh
Tamiang, Indonesia [jokoguntoro@gmail.com]
These 2017 hatchling Painted Terrapins emerged from protected nests, and were released on their natal
beach. PHOTO CREDIT: JOKO GUNTORO
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 33
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Shailendra Singh, Bhasker Dixit, Arunima Singh, Nariman Vazifdar, Rishika Dubla & Rachna Tewari
INDIA
TSA India Program: New Successes and Dimensions
in Chelonian Conservation
India is a vast country with diverse wild-
life, including one of the richest chelonian
faunal assemblages in the world, with 28
species of non-marine turtles recorded
within its borders.
Unfortunately, India's turtles face significant
conservation challenges, from habitat de-
struction to illegal collection. Many species
are critically endangered. In response to this
crisis, the TSA's India program was initiated
in 2005. It was expanded in 2010, current-
ly targeting ten threatened turtle species
through six conservation projects in four
Turtle Priority Areas (TPA).
IUCN RED-LIST CONFERENCE
We hosted the National Conservation Action
Planning and Red-list Assessment Workshop
in February 2017 in New Delhi, India, in
association with the Ministry of Environ-
ment, Forests and Climate Change, and
other partners. The three-day IUCN Red-list
session concluded with the recommenda-
tions to reclassify the Crowned River Turtle
(Hardella thurjii) and Keeled Box Turtle
(Cuora mouhotii) as Critically Endangered,
and the Indian Flap-shelled Turtle (Lis-
semys punctata) from Least Concern to
Near Threatened. Accordingly, the IUCN
will petition the Ministry of Environment,
Forests and Climate Change to increase
protections for these species under the Indian
Wildlife Protection Act.
NORTHEAST INDIA PROJECT
In honor of International Biodiversity Day,
22 May, the project team signed a long-term
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with
the Assam Tourism Development Corpora-
tion to set up a Nature Discovery Center at
Biswanath Ghat along the northern bank of
the Brahmaputra River. The center will serve
as our future conservation and research facility.
The beauty of a male Red-crowned Roofed Turtle is accentuated by the fading light of the golden hour on the Chambal River. PHOTO CREDIT: SHAILENDRA SINGH
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
34
The center is being built with generous sup-
port from the Disney Conservation Fund and
is set to open 2 February 2018.
The TSA signed another MoU, with the
Dimapur Zoo, Nagaland, in January 2017 to
help insure the survival of the Asian Black
Giant Tortoise (Manouria emys phayrei) in
northeastern India by initiating a breeding
program there. This zoo houses six males
and five females and is very keen to lead the
regional species recovery program with the
TSA. The TSA and Dimapur Zoo started pre-
liminary husbandry improvements, marked
all the turtles with Passive Integrated Tran-
sponder (PIT) tags, and collected morpho-
metric measurements. As per a pre-accorded
permit from the Central Zoo Authority to the
TSA in India, our project team will survey
all the zoos of northeast India for Asian
Black Giant Tortoises and assess each zoo's
housing facilities to establish an integrated
conservation breeding program across the
region.
THE RED-CROWNED ROOFED TURTLE
The spectacularly colored Red-crowned
Roofed Turtle (Batagur kachuga) is the
second most endangered turtle species in
India. The Chambal River is possibly the last
stronghold of the species. In 2017, through
our ongoing hatch-and-release programs, we
protected 450 nests of two Batagur species
and released over 8,000 hatchlings, with 125
hatchlings translocated to our rearing centers
in Garhaita and Deori.
In the field, our team sampled the middle
Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh within a
ten kilometer stretch. Over a period of three
The Batagur monitoring team holds female (left) and male (right) Red-crowned Roofed Turtles along the Chambal River. PHOTO CREDIT: SHAILENDRA SINGH
A hatchling Red-crowned Roofed Turtle basks on a sandbar in the Chambal River.
PHOTO CREDIT: SNEHA DHARWADKAR
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 35
weeks we sampled 61 turtles representing
seven species. Our team measured and PIT
tagged all animals and fitted ten wild B. ka-
chuga with acoustic transmitters. A wildlife
veterinarian was present during the sam-
pling, and we experienced no animal injuries
or mortalities. All turtles were released at
their precise point-of-capture.
Additionally, we discovered a male-dom-
inated semi-wild population of B. kachuga
confined to a river pool in front of the
Bhaweshwari temple. We physically marked
11 individuals for future study.
THE NORTHERN RIVER TERRAPIN
The Northern River Terrapin (Batagur
baska) breeding program continues at our
facility in Sajnekhali within the Indian
Sundarbans, with four females nesting in
March 2017, and eggs hatching with an 87%
success rate in June. The Sunderban Tiger
Reserve and the West Bengal Forest Depart-
ment used technical information provided
by the TSA to develop a second earthen
pond within facility to split the colony at
Sajnekhali. Several other Northern River
Terrapin colonies are maintained within
the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, and after
receiving a health assessment, 20 animals
(seven males and 13 females) were translo-
cated to join additional colonies. Another 80
animals were slated for transfer among three
facilities in the Tiger Reserve in the winter.
THE CROWNED RIVER TURTLE
We continued sampling the Sarju-Ghaghra
river system in the Tarai region for our
ongoing studies of the endangered Crowned
River Turtle (Hardella thurjii). A total of
50 turtles were sampled, measured, and
tagged in September. From this sample,
four female H. thurjii with carapace width
of 50 cm or greater were taken for an x-ray
examination to determine the presence of
calcified eggs. Three of the females were
gravid and were administered oxytocin and
PG alpha to induce artificial oviposition at
our River Conservation Center. We were
able to retrieve a total of 29 eggs from this
endangered species, whose nesting locations
and behaviors are still unknown. Perhaps
most excitingly, two new viable populations
of H. thurjii were discovered in the Gomti
River near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, during
the spring surveys.
RESCUE AND REHABILITATION
Better networking and more effective
enforcement has allowed Indian agencies to
crack some big illegal turtle consignments.
We combined our efforts with Uttar Pradesh
Special Task Force (UPSTF) as well as the
Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and
were able to provide assistance in identifi-
cation, on-site treatment, and rehabilitation
of over 10,000 turtles of eight species. The
biggest haul included over 6,000 Flap-Shell
Turtles (Lissemys punctata). All the hard-shell
turtles were translocated to the Kukrail Gha-
rial and Turtle Center for a quarantine period
and were later released into protected areas.
In addition, 23 B. kachuga, mainly males in
breeding colors, were confiscated from Agra
and rehabilitated, with a 90% survival rate.
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH PROGRAM
All our projects are socially integrated and
promote participatory conservation. The
TSA in India is helping to alleviate the
pressure on rivers by developing alternative
livelihood programs for riverside fishing
communities at our centers in Tarai and
Chambal. The models include pond-based
pisciculture, organic agriculture, fuel-cake
making, chicken farming, handicraft pro-
duction, and arid horticulture. To further
consolidate and network with like-minded
organizations in northern India, we hosted a
one-day stakeholder workshop in Lucknow
to integrate alternate livelihoods into con-
servation strategies. The recommendations
from this meeting will be submitted to the
government and partner agencies.
In addition, we continued our education
programs both in Chambal and Tarai, in-
cluding a teachers' training program, school
follow-up activities, and a cluster-level event
in which over 60 riverside schools in the
Agra and Bahraich Districts participated. We
conducted training programs and held two
Northern River Terrapins are released into the assurance colony at the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve in
Sajnekhali. PHOTO CREDIT: DIVYA DEEP CHATTERJI
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
36
workshops in September in which we trained
over 60 naturalists for projects at the Kukrail
and Lucknow zoos.
We sustained our Kukrail Guided Nature
Tour (KGNT) at the Gharial and Turtle
Center, celebrated World Turtle Day, and
developed three low-cost, on-site nature
interpretation centers in the Chambal region.
These projects have reached over 10,000
people, and we intend to increase this to over
20,000 in 2018.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We sincerely
thank Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversi-
ty Board (MPSBB) , Turtle Conservation
Fund (TCF), IUCN Tortoise and Turtle
Specialist Group, Smithsonian Zoo,
Worldwide Fund for Nature- India and
American Association of Zoo Keepers (St.
Louis Zoo) for providing support to the
National Turtle Meeting.
Disney Conservation Fund, Ocean Park
Conservation Fund, San Diego Zoological
Society, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botan-
ic Garden, Disney Conservation Fund,
MPSBB, Turtle Limited, Phoenix Zoo,
TCF, San Antonio Zoo, British Chelonia
Group, John Ball Zoo, West Midland Safari
Park, Vicky Hudson Memorial Conserva-
tion Fund, Woodland Park Zoo, Golf for
Wildlife, Uttar Pradesh Forest and Wildlife
Department is sincerely thanked for sup-
porting the field projects.
We thank our partners such Assam
Tourism Development Corporation
(ATDC) and National Mission for Clean
Ganga, Primary Education Department
(Basic Shikha Parishad) of UP for various
endorsement. We thank Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam,
Punjab Manipur and Karnataka Forest
Department for various permissions and
logistic support. We thank Soumitra
Dasgupta, DIG, MoEF & CC for all the
support.
We thank officers of state forest/govern-
ment department, especially Rupak De,
SK Upadhyay Jitendra Agarwal, Ravikant
Sinha, Tillotama Verma, Sunil Choudhury,
RS Murthy, Sanjay Singh, Ravindra Pall
Saini, Sanjay Srivastava, Nilanjan Mallick,
SK Awasthi, Renu Singh, AK Sinha, San-
jeev Kumar, Anil Patel, Arvind Chaturvedi,
AA Ansari, Tripti Shah, BC Choudhury,
Arindam Guha Thakurta, SN Shukla,
Suresh Chandra Rajput, Obed Bohovi
Swu, Elizabeth Thomas, RS Sarath, TP
Singh, Biplab Bhaumik, Suresh Pal Singh,
Jyoti Dandotiya, for their guidance
and support. Gowri Mallapur, Himanshu
Joshi, Saurav Gawan, Sneha Dharwad-
kar,Thirumalai Nathan, Akash Singh,
Debangini Roy, Narendra Parekh, Shrijita
Chatterji, Lalit Budhani are thanked for
participation and assistance in various
field projects. Kausar J Hilaly and Noor
Begum are thanked for support with
NDC. We thank the TSA board of direc-
tors, Rick Hudson, Andrew Walde and
Lonnie McCaskill for guidance and sup-
port. We thank Ullas Karanth and Mrun-
mayee Amarnath from Wildlife Conser-
vation Society - India for administrative
support. We thank Chris Clark and Jordan
Gray for administrative support.
CONTACT: Centre for Wildlife Studies/
Turtle Survival Alliance-India Turtle
Conservation Program. D1/317, Sector F,
Jankipuram, Lucknow, India 226021
[shai@turtlesurvival.org]
Village school children release head started Red-crowned Roofed Turtles into the National Chambal Sanctuary. PHOTO CREDIT: NARIMAN VAZIFDAR
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 37
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Steven G. Platt & Kalyar Platt
MYANMAR
Progress Continues in the Fight to Save
Myanmar's Critically Endangered Turtles
With 27 species of tortoises and freshwater
turtles - almost a third of which are endemic
Myanmar is among the most important
chelonian diversity countries in the world.
It has also become Ground Zero for turtle
conservation in Southeast Asia, as its
extraordinary turtle fauna is threatened by
subsistence harvesting, widespread habitat
destruction, and most insidious of all, en-
trenched networks of illegal traffickers with
direct lines to wildlife markets in bordering
China and Thailand.
Beginning in the early 2000s, the Turtle
Survival Alliance (TSA) working together
in partnership with the Wildlife Conserva-
tion Society (WCS) has sought to stem the
seemingly inevitable tide of extinction with
a combination of in situ and ex situ programs
focused on the most critically endangered
species. These efforts are increasingly
showing signs of success, although the battle
to save Myanmar's imperiled turtles is far
from won.
The 2016-2017 year was another banner
year with a major confiscation of Big-head-
ed Turtles (Platysternon megacephalum),
record-breaking reproduction by Burmese
Roofed Turtles (Batagur trivittata), con-
tinuing reintroductions of Burmese Star
Tortoises (Geochelone platynota) into the
national protected area system, and notable
breakthroughs in the captive breeding of
Burmese Eyed Turtles (Morenia ocellata)
and Asian Black Giant Tortoises (Manouria
emys phayrei).
BIG-HEADED TURTLE CONFISCATION
In early November 2016, while investigating
complaints about noxious odors emanating
from a ramshackle building in a small town
on the Myanmar-Thailand Border, police
and Forest Department officials stumbled
on almost 1,000 dead and dying Big-headed
Headstarted Burmese Star Tortoises with attached radio transmitters await release at Minzontaung Wildlife Sanctuary. PHOTO CREDIT: ME ME SOE
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
38
Turtles, a critically endangered species in-
habiting cool, fast-flowing mountain streams
of Southeast Asia.
The compound belonged to a shadowy,
Hong Kong-based underworld figure whose
two lieutenants-in-residence were charged
with illegally purchasing turtles and smug-
gling them to China. With neither the means
nor the expertise necessary to care for this
number of turtles, Myanmar authorities
immediately contacted the TSA/WCS team
for assistance.
Assembling from far-flung locations
throughout the country, we converged on
the border town within 24 hours. What we
found was sickening: crude cages stuffed
with dehydrated and starving turtles, many
of which were already dead or in the throes
of death, and a pervasive overpowering
stench. Our immediate task was to move the
turtles from the border to the Turtle Rescue
Center (TRC) in the cool highlands above
Mandalay. This proved easier said than
done when we learned the only domestic air
carrier serving the region no longer carried
animal cargo. After a series of frenzied late
night calls to their CEO, the airline relented
and temporarily lifted the prohibition. Shortly
after dawn the following morning, we had
the turtles in the air.
Landing at Mandalay, the closely packed
crates of turtles were transferred to waiting
trucks for the final leg of the journey to
the TRC. In the meantime, a call to action
went out to the global turtle community
and the response was immediate. Veterinar-
ians, medical technicians, and experienced
husbandry technicians were soon inbound
to Mandalay from the Bronx Zoo, Smithso-
nian Institution, Turtle Survival Center, and
Wildlife Reserves of Singapore, bringing
urgently needed medical supplies along with
a formidable body of expertise.
The following week was harrowing. Even
when healthy, Big-headed Turtles are
considered one of the more delicate and
challenging species to maintain in captivity.
After being subjected to weeks of abuse and
neglect, these turtles were especially difficult
patients. Hours were spent diagnosing, treat-
ing, and nursing our charges back to health.
On more than one night, we worked around
the clock without sleep and only short breaks
for brief meals.
Worse yet, Big-headed Turtles are territorial
and anti-social (except during the breeding
season), meaning that turtles must be housed
individually, or else viscous fights will
ensue. Lacking facilities to provide 1,000
turtles with individual living quarters, we
improvised; each turtle was placed under an
overturned wicker basket in the shallows of
a repurposed softshell turtle pool. Most of
our charges required hand feeding, at least
initially, which entailed patiently dangling
a bit of shrimp or fish in front of the turtle,
hoping it would take a bite and begin eating.
Refusing to eat was inevitably a sign of
impending death, and even with the best
care, many turtles ultimately succumbed.
We came to dread morning rounds at the field
clinic when we learned just how many turtles
had not made it through the night. Within a
few days, however, the situation grew less
bleak; stronger turtles began responding to
treatment and mortality tapered off. In the
end, just over 100 survivors remained from
almost 1,000 turtles originally confiscated.
The survivors are now being temporarily
held in improvised, albeit adequate, quar-
ters at the TRC. Originally, we planned to
A recovering Big-headed Turtle at the Turtle Rescue Center. These beautiful albeit Critically Endangered
stream-dwelling turtles are now the focus of the illegal wildlife trade in Southeast Asia. Even populations
within protected areas are being decimated by poachers. PHOTO CREDIT: NAY WIN KYAW
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 39
return the rehabilitated turtles to the wild,
but two factors caused us to reconsider this
course of action. First, several subspecies of
unknown provenance appear to be represented
among the survivors and releasing these
animals into the wild would risk genetically
contaminating any resident population of
Big-headed Turtles. Second, the survivors
have no doubt been exposed to a variety of
infectious pathogens, and releasing these
turtles could result in a disease outbreak
among wild populations.
Rather than releasing the survivors, we
decided to use them as the nucleus of an as-
surance colony with the dedicated objective
of producing offspring for reintroduction
to the wild, after genetic and health issues
have been addressed. Currently, the search
is underway for donors to underwrite con-
struction of the new facility as a first step
towards securing a future for Big-headed
Turtles in Myanmar.
BURMESE ROOFED TURTLE

CONSERVATION
The Burmese Roofed Turtle is endemic to
Myanmar where, according to early 20th cen-
tury accounts, it once congregated in "herds"
to bask and nest on sandbars along large
rivers. Widespread and intensive harvesting
of the eggs by riverside communities led to
a slow but steady decline. By the late 1990s,
the species was feared extinct. Then, in 2001,
remnant populations were re-discovered in
the Dokhtawady and upper Chindwin rivers.
In and ex situ conservation programs initiated
shortly thereafter by Gerald Kuchling togeth-
er with the follow-up efforts of the TSA and
WCS arrested the downward spiral and pulled
this species back from the edge of extinction.
A viable Burmese Roofed Turtle egg. The opaque spot on the eggshell signals that the egg contains a
developing embryo. The pencil mark insures the proper orientation of the egg when the clutch is rebur-
ied in the secure incubation area. Two out of the three clutches of Roofed Turtle eggs collected from
along the Chindwin River in 2017 contained viable eggs and 39 hatchlings emerged in late May and
early June. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVEN G. PLATT
Turtles were later transferred to fiberglass tubs as a temporary measure until a designated facility could be constructed. Each tub contains a single Big-headed
Turtle. PHOTO CREDIT: CLINT DOAK
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
40
Nonetheless, our efforts to restore the Bur-
mese Roofed Turtle as an ecologically func-
tional species within its native rivers continue
to be a challenge. A captive breeding group of
turtles rescued from pagoda ponds and confis-
cated from fishermen has formed the nucleus
of a breeding colony at the Mandalay Zoo.
The colony produces a handful of offspring
every year, insuring the Roofed Turtle faces
no immediate prospect of biological extinc-
tion, but the status of the sole remaining wild
population remains precarious.
Recent genetic studies by Gzde ilingir
and colleagues confirmed that fewer than
ten breeding turtles remain in the Chindwin
River. Every year we collect eggs from these
turtles and headstart the offspring at a TSA/
WCS facility in Limpha Village, a remote
outpost on the upper Chindwin River. A trial
release of 60 headstarted Roofed Turtles
in 2015, from eggs hatched prior to 2014,
yielded mixed results when many of the
transmitters attached to turtles failed and
other turtles dispersed long distances up and
down the river, with some falling victim to
monofilament fishing nets.
Then disaster struck. In 2014 and again in
2015, only a single fertile egg was laid by
the wild females, leading us to speculate that
one or more males remaining in the river had
perished, leaving a population composed of
only one sex. However, in 2016 we were re-
lieved when one of five clutches laid by the
wild females proved fertile and 27 of the 30
eggs subsequently hatched. In 2017 we again
waited anxiously during February and March
for the females to crawl from the river and
deposit their eggs.
Three females emerged from the river on
moonlit nights, excavated multiple deep
pits in the sand (Burmese Roofed Turtles
lay a single clutch in multiple holes), and
deposited eggs in each hole. We arrived on
the scene within hours, alerted by our net-
work of local "beach wardens" who monitor
known nesting sites, carefully excavated
the eggs, and transferred them to a natural
sandbank at Limpha Village.
A week later we carefully dug up and
inspected a few eggs, searching for opaque
bands on the shell, a sure sign that an
embryo is developing within. Thankfully,
two of the three clutches consisted of fertile
eggs. These were hurriedly reburied and
two months later, just as the river began its
annual rise with the onset of the wet season,
39 hatchlings crawled from the sand and are
now being headstarted.
Although it is impossible to be certain with-
out genetic analysis, we consider it likely
that one or more of the headstarted males
released in 2015 is responsible for insem-
inating the wild females. If so, it demon-
strates the success and importance of the
headstarting program to long-term conserva-
tion of wild terrapins.
More good news was to follow. In late 2016,
together with our partners at the Mandalay
Zoo, we made two significant modifica-
tions to our husbandry protocols. First, we
constructed a second artificial beach on the
shore of a pond housing the breeding colony.
Second, we augmented the diet of these
turtles with high protein cat chow in hopes
of boosting reproduction.
These efforts paid off when 91 eggs hatched
in May and June, nearly a four-fold increase
in reproduction compared to previous years.
Even more significant, an 11-year-old female
that nested in 2017 was herself hatched at
Me Me Soe holding five recently hatched Burmese Roofed Turtles at the Mandalay Zoo. Ninety-two
Burmese Roofed Turtles hatched at the Mandalay Zoo in 2017, making it a milestone year in the captive
propagation of this Critically Endangered species. PHOTO CREDIT: KALYAR PLATT
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 41
the zoo, the progeny of captive adults. Taken
together with the renewed nesting success on
the Chindwin River, these events give reason
for optimism and suggest brighter prospects
for the Roofed Turtle than we would have
dared to imagine 20 years ago.
BURMESE STAR TORTOISE

REINTRODUCTIONS
The Burmese Star Tortoise is endemic to the
dry zone of Myanmar, a desert-like region
in the central part of the country. The Star
Tortoise shares much of this range with the
bulk of Myanmar's human population, and
hence, subsistence harvesting and habitat
loss have long been factors in the decline of
this species. Prospects for survival worsened
in the mid- to late 1990s when this stunningly
beautiful animal became avidly sought by
the high-end international pet market.
Within a decade, wholesale collecting had
denuded the dry zone of its tortoises. The
collecting frenzy was of such intensity that
even populations within protected areas were
decimated. By the mid-2000s, the Burmese
Star Tortoise was ecologically extinct in
the wild. Fortunately, ecological extinction
failed to translate into biological extinc-
tion. Recognizing the few remaining wild
tortoises could not be protected, the Myan-
mar Forest Department, working together
with the TSA and WCS, established captive
breeding colonies at Lawkanandar, Minzon-
taung, and Shwe Settaw wildlife sanctuaries.
After a slow beginning during which various
husbandry issues were resolved, these efforts
rapidly gained momentum. Since 2008, the
captive population has increased at an aston-
ishing annual rate of 37%. In keeping with
this trend, the 2016-2017 breeding season
proved record-breaking with the captive
population surpassing 14,000.
Rather than simply warehousing these tortois-
es in captivity, the ultimate objective of these
efforts has always been the reintroduction of
headstarted offspring into suitably protected
habitat. A National Star Tortoise Action Plan
we developed as part of a 2012 workshop
held in collaboration with our governmen-
tal partners set forth the ambitious goal of
restoring wild populations of Star Tortoises at
every protected area within the dry zone. Our
strategy to achieve this objective is two-fold:
reintroduce captive bred and headstarted
tortoises and then effectively protect restored
populations through "boots-on-the-ground"
law enforcement, a must considering the
high dollar value these tortoises continue to
command in the illegal trade.
As a first step in realizing the action plan,
we initiated a reintroduction program at
Minzontaung Wildlife Sanctuary (MWS)
during 2013-2014. After an intense com-
munity awareness and education campaign
in the villages around MWS, we erected
three acclimation pens well away from the
sanctuary boundaries, and stocked each
with 100 headstarted subadult tortoises from
the assurance colonies. The tortoises were
released after varying periods of confine-
ment and their wanderings monitored with
radio telemetry. With some modifications of
our basic protocol, additional releases took
place in 2015 and 2016, and now about 600
free-ranging tortoises reside in the sanctuary,
with another 150 awaiting release in early
February 2018. Numerous instances of
successful nesting by reintroduced tortoises
have been documented, boding well for the
future viability of this population.
Building on lessons learned at MWS, we
are now undertaking a second reintroduc-
tion at Shwe Settaw Wildlife Sanctuary, a
much larger protected area that is home to
one of the world's largest surviving herds
of Brow-antlered Deer and could ultimately
support thousands of wild Star Tortoises.
However, before reintroduction could be
safely undertaken, we had to first wrest
control of the release area from poachers,
illegal timber cutters, and other criminals
who until recently have enjoyed free reign
in the sanctuary. As part of this effort, we
recruited Community Conservation Volun-
teers (CCVs) from local villages to give a
familiar face to our efforts. CCVs not only
assist with field work, but most importantly
function as our eyes and ears in the commu-
nity, ever alert for information on poachers
and their activities.
In accordance with highly effective protocols
developed at MWS, in 2016 we erected three
acclimation pens in the now secure release
area, and stocked these with 150 headstarted
tortoises selected from the three assurance
colonies. In February 2017, after a year of
residence, panels on the acclimation pens
Each Burmese Roofed Turtle egg is weighed and measured before being buried deeply in the sand at
the artificial incubation area. The fence surrounding the incubation area protects the developing eggs
from wandering water buffalo and village curs. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVEN G. PLATT
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
42
were removed and the tortoises wandered
off into the surrounding forest where we
are now monitoring their movements with
radio telemetry. To date, most of the tortoises
continue to reside within 1 km of the pens
and survival rates appear high. To our sur-
prise, in June 2017 we chanced upon several
newly emerged hatchlings indicating the
headstarted tortoises are not only surviving,
but also reproducing! The three acclimation
pens now hold an even larger group of 300
headstarted tortoises slated for release in
November 2017.
CAPTIVE BREEDING OF BURMESE EYED
TURTLES AND ASIAN BLACK GIANT
TORTOISES
The Burmese Eyed Turtle (Morenia ocel-
lata) is a poorly known species endemic to
the lowlands of Myanmar. The Eyed Turtle
is one of the most common turtles seen in
pagoda ponds where most reside in squalor
until succumbing to a premature death. Even
more alarmingly, large numbers of Eyed Tur-
tles are harvested from the wild, destined for
the wildlife markets of southern China.
The husbandry requirements of this species
were unknown until recently. Then, in early
2016, we chanced upon a pagoda in Myain
Kalay in Mon State that expressed an interest
in properly caring for the turtles released
into their ponds. An inspection of the shal-
low ponds revealed mostly Eyed Turtles,
which according to the caretaker laid large
numbers of eggs every year, although few
had ever hatched. Armed with Styrofoam
boxes and sacks of Vermiculite, we returned
to the pagoda, assisted the caretaker with
cleaning the ponds, helped provide a better
diet to the turtles, and demonstrated how to
properly incubate turtle eggs. These efforts
paid off well; in May and June, 130 hatch-
lings emerged from the eggs, to our knowl-
edge the first ever successful propagation of
the Eyed Turtle in captivity. The hatchlings
proved surprisingly hardy, readily consuming
aquatic plants and commercial turtle food,
and growth has been rapid. The young turtles
are now being headstarted for eventual
release at a wetland near the pagoda.
The Asian Black Giant Tortoise (Manouria
emys phayrei) is imperiled throughout
Myanmar largely due to subsistence har-
vesting. Given the impending demise of
this species, the TSA/WCS established two
assurance colonies, one at the Turtle Rescue
Center and the other in southern Rakhine
State, to produce offspring for eventual
release. These colonies have been plagued
by problems, most recently when voracious
ants (most likely a species introduced into
Myanmar) penetrated incubating eggs and
consumed the embryos. In 2017, success
was finally achieved when 16 eggs hatched
at the Turtle Rescue Center despite a power
failure that shut down the incubators for an
extended period. A few weeks later another
six hatchlings emerged from eggs produced
in southern Rakhine State. The hatchlings at
both assurance colonies appear to be thriving
and will one day be released into a protected
area.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: For their stead-
fast and generous support of the TSA/
WCS Myanmar Turtle Conservation Pro-
gram, we wish to recognize the following
donors: Andrew Sabin and the Sabin
Family Foundation, Andrew Walde, Criti-
cal Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Helms-
ley Charitable Trust, Holohil Systems, Ltd.,
Panaphil Foundation, Patricia Koval and
WWF Canada, Turtle Conservation Fund,
and Wildlife Conservation Society.
CONTACT: Turtle Survival Alliance and
Wildlife Conservation Society, No. 12,
Nanrattaw St., Kamayut Township,
Yangon, Union of Myanmar.
Steven G. Platt [sgplatt@gmail.com] and
Kalyar Platt [kalyarplatt@gmail.com]
TSA/WCS field staff, Forest Department rangers, and Community Conservation Volunteers process headstarted Burmese Star Tortoises prior to releasing
them in a spacious acclimation pen at Shwe Settaw Wildlife Sanctuary. The tortoises will remain in the pen for one year before being allowed to wander off
into the surrounding forest. PHOTO CREDIT: KYAW THU ZAW WINT
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 43
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Scott Trageser
BANGLADESH
A New Chelonian Turtle Breeding
Center in Bangladesh
The Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA)
is proud to unveil a brand-new breeding
center dedicated to the endangered turtle
and tortoise species of Bangladesh. With
more species of turtle per area than any other
country, assurance colonies here are of par-
amount importance. Prior to this, no facility
in Bangladesh was capable of housing and
breeding multiple species. Establishing this
center has been one of our main objectives
for several years.
The TSA also proudly supports the Northern
River Terrapin (Batagur baska) breeding
program, and with our breeding center now
focusing on endangered terrestrial turtle
species, giant steps are being taken to protect
all species of testudines in the country. As of
September 2017, the CCA's breeding center
safeguards eight Arakan Forest Turtles (He-
osemys depressa), eight Asian Black Giant
Tortoises (Manouria emys phayrei), a single
Keeled Box Turtle (Cuora mouhotii), and four
Elongated Tortoises (Indotestudo elongata).
Arakan Forest Turtles were only recently
discovered in Bangladesh by our very own
Caesar Rahman, prior to which they were
known to be endemic only to a small area of
northwest Myanmar. This species is an Asian
Species Action Partnership (ASAP) species
and one of the most threatened species of
turtle in the world. Our Asian Giant Tor-
toises, Keeled Box Turtle, and Elongated
Tortoises are all critically endangered in
Bangladesh and would face a grim fate if not
for our organization's holistic conservation
measures. With the eventual goal of safe-
guarding all endangered native species of
turtle in this facility, many additions to our
center will be needed and additional funding
will be required in the near future.
This ex situ breeding center is only one
step in the CCA's plan to save the magnifi-
cent Sangu Reserve Forest in southeastern
Bangladesh. It is the only thing stopping
the annihilation of this last vestige of turtle
paradise the only forest in the country sup-
porting populations of most of these species.
The majority of our turtles are rescued from
patches of forest outside of the government
declared protected area, which are about
to be cleared for subsistence agriculture
by one of several indigenous tribes. To
reduce forest resource dependence in these
indigenous communities we offer several
alternative livelihood initiatives including
our Schools for Conservation and Crafts for
Conservation programs, indigo dye produc-
tion, and a plant nursery.
When these efforts are not enough to save
the habitat, the last resort is to collect what
animals we can, with every intention of
releasing them back into similar habitats
once those habitats are secured. We employ
traditional hunters-turned-conservationists
to survey pre-impacted areas and save every
turtle they can before the slash and burn
begins. CCA staff are fighting to save what is
left of these ancient forests and are confident
that we will be able to see these turtles roam
free again in a few years.
Construction of our breeding center began in
February 2017 and was completed in August
after enduring several unforeseen bureau-
cratic setbacks. A portion of the Future for
Nature Award 2017 fund was used to build
the facility and the Prokriti O Jibon Foun-
dation (Nature and Life), our local NGO
partner, generously provided funding for
construction of the center.
In addition to providing refuge for these tur-
tles, we will bring students of all ages, as well
as youth groups such as the Boy Scouts of
Bangladesh, to experience the extraordinary
personalities of our turtles. One in particu-
lar is the friendly and ever-curious tortoise
The facility is constructed amongst native trees which provide enough shade to keep the turtles happy
until the undergrowth fills in. PHOTO CREDIT: SCOTT TRAGESER/NATURESTILLS.COM
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
44
Casanova. We try not to have favorites, but it's hard not to
when this loving 16 kg Asian Giant Tortoise wants nothing
more than to hang out with you, vocalize, and have his
head scratched. In addition to liking humans, he's a huge
fan of female Asian Giant Tortoises, making him our star
breeder and earning him his name.
In the near future, we plan to expand the center with a
small classroom, dorm facility, and research center. These
additions will allow us to train interested individuals
with husbandry techniques and impart awareness of the
dire state of our country's wildernesses. These hands-on
experiences are not found anywhere else in the country
and should help to instill a deep appreciation for turtles
and nature in the future leaders of Bangladesh. Pending
available funding, we also hope to conduct in situ dietary
research for these understudied species which will support
healthy diets of our captive colonies in Bangladesh and all
other range countries.
DONOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: We would like to thank
the Future for Nature and Prokriti O Jibon Foundation
for their generous financial support which has allowed
us to construct and support this breeding facility.
We are grateful to Bangladesh Forest Department
for generously allocating us land for the center and
provide us support.
CONTACT: Scott Trageser, Creative Conservation Alli-
ance, Avenue 3, Road 13 A, House 925, Mirpur DOHS,
Dhaka, Bangladesh [trageser.scott@gmail.com]
Our funding partner Prokriti O Jibon also owns a national TV channel which lets us get
plenty of airtime with our turtles broadcasted across all of Bangladesh.
PHOTO CREDIT: SCOTT TRAGESER/NATURESTILLS.COM
Our star male breeder Casanova (pictured right) meets and divvies territory with our other older male Asian Black Giant Tortoise in their new home.
PHOTO CREDIT: SCOTT TRAGESER/NATURESTILLS.COM
A handful of excitement! These four of our rescued Arakan Forest Turtles are in good
hands with Caesar Rahman. PHOTO CREDIT: SCOTT TRAGESER/NATURESTILLS.COM
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 45
RANGE COUNTRY UPDATE
Doris Preininger, Rupali Ghosh, Peter Praschag and Anton Weissenbacher
BANGLADESH
Project Batagur Baska: As Captive Population
Grows, A Second Facility Comes Online
In the last year, Project Batagur baska in
Bangladesh prepared for a new breeding
season. The previous years proved to be
complicated because the group faced a
bacterial infection, and lately nests in
Bhawal were attacked and eaten by ants.
We decided to split the existing breeding
group and brought four of the eight fe-
males from the Bhawal National Park to
the recently established back-up station in
the South at Karamjal. The large breeding
pond in Karamjal was renovated with
the financial support of the Zoological
Society for the Conservation of Species
and Populations (ZGAP), Deutsche Ge-
sellschaft fr Herpetologie und Terrarien-
kunde (DGHT), REWE Group, and the
Austrian Zoo Organization (OZO). As
part of the renovation we cleared bushes
and grass to establish a large sand beach
for egg deposition.
In both stations, females nested in March.
To counteract the ant predation in Bhawal
National Park, we immediately put the
clutches in ant-secure boxes, which were
checked regularly by the staff to prevent
excessively moist conditions during in-
cubation. Two months later, a total of 118
juveniles hatched between both stations
a success unseen so far in one breeding
season in Bangladesh! All hatchlings were
placed in tanks secured from predators and
to date are growing well and fast.
We also were able to team up with a new
local partner in Bangladesh, the Prokriti O
Jibon Foundation, who joined the Vienna
Zoo, the Forest Department, and the TSA
as leading project team partners. The
Foundations TV Channel broadcast the
A 2017 Northern River Terrapin hatchling in Bhawal, Bangladesh. PHOTO CREDIT: RUPALI GHOSH
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
46
hatchling success throughout the whole country and raised
awareness to the plight facing this critically endangered
terrapin.
The Karamjal station in the Sundarbans is regarded as the
best starting point for a future reintroduction of the terrapin
to the wild. In February 2017, two males equipped with sat-
ellite transmitters were released in the Sundarbans in order
to observe migration routes and detect possible breeding
habitats. In the trial release, one animal was lost quickly,
presumed captured or dead, and the second was caught by
fishermen within two weeks and was brought back to the
station with the help of the Forest Department.
In the future, we will continue to grow the assurance
colonies and raise the offspring, and we will also continue
to try to find suitable habitats for the reintroduction of the
Northern River Terrapin to someday sustainably return the
animals to the Sundarbans.
CONTACT: Anton Weissenbacher [a.weissenbacher@
zoovienna.at], Rupali Ghosh [rupalighosh22@gmail.com],
and Doris Preininger [d.preininger@zoovienna.at], Vienna
Zoo, Maxingstrae 13b, 1130 Vienna, Austria
Peter Praschag, Turtle Island, Am Katzelbach 98, 8054
Graz, Austria [ppraschag@turtle-island.at]
Male Northern River Terrapin fitted with satellite transmitter before reintroduction. PHOTO CREDIT: PETER PRASCHAG
The first breeding success produced 57 juveniles in Karamjal, the second facility
in Bangladesh. PHOTO CREDIT: RUPALI GHOSH
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 47
Project Batagur Baska: Making A Comeback
From the Edge of Extinction
In the Sundarbans of southeastern India and Bangladesh, one
of the most endangered species on Earth has been pulled back
from the brink of extinction thanks to the efforts of the TSA
and its allies.
The Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska), once abundant in
the rivers and tidal sloughs of the Sundarbans, was nearly extinct
in the wild by 2010. Once believed to occur from India to Su-
matra, the Northern River Terrapin was divided into two distinct
species in 2009 by Peter Praschag and colleagues: the Northern
River Terrapin (Batagur baska) of India and Bangladesh, and the
Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis) of Cambodia, southern
Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, and Sumatra. The true B. baska
was not merely Critically Endangered; it was a species on the
razor's edge of extinction. Two years of surveys (2008-2009)
found no evidence of a wild population or even a single wild
individual. Subsequent searches indicated occasional individual
animals but no breeding population in either country. A small
captive colony of B. baska at the Sajnekhali Interpretation Center
of the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve (STR) became the center for the
species' survival in India. Although 8.4 terrapins were perma-
nently housed at the Center, they were not reproducing success-
fully. To remedy this situation, staff from TSA India, working
with the West Bengal Forestry Department, set about making
husbandry improvements and modifications to the facility that
would encourage nesting. In 2012 these efforts paid off, when
25 hatchlings were produced here.
At the same time, the TSA with its allies and partner organiza-
tions led by Peter Praschag and Rupali Ghosh set about doing the
same in Bangladesh. By rounding up some of the last surviving
individuals living in village ponds, and by scouring animal mar-
kets, the nucleus for a captive breeding program began to come
together at the Bhawal National Park.
COVER STORY
The grandeur of this male Northern River Terrapin symbolizes the efforts that have been made to bring this species back from the brink of extinction.
PHOTO CREDIT: SHAILENDRA SINGH
Howard Goldstein, Rick Hudson & Andrew Walde
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
48
Thanks to the remarkable efforts of Rupali
Ghosh, the Bangladesh team recovered six
males and two females by the end of 2010.
That year, the Vienna Zoo, which just recorded
the first captive breeding worldwide, stepped
in as partner in Bangladesh. Over the next
few years, additional individuals were tracked
down and added to the Bhawal colony, includ-
ing three wild caught hatchlings, the first proof
that at least one wild nesting female still
persists in Bangladesh. The Bhawal colony
has experienced various setbacks, including
flooding, a bacterial infection outbreak in the
colony, and predation on the eggs by monitor
lizards and ants. Yet the incredible dedication
of Rupali and our partners at the Vienna Zoo,
and with funding support from Save Our Spe-
cies SOS, we have turned a near tragedy into
an incredible success story. By 2017, the
combined hatching successes in India (323)
and Bangladesh (263) resulted in a total of 586
hatchlings.
Because of some of the husbandry issues
at Bhawal, the team decided to establish a
second breeding colony in Bangladesh, at
Karamjal in the south, closer to the natural
range of the species, and a group was moved
there in 2016. This strategy paid off and in
2017, the current Bangladeshi breeding colony
of 21 males and eight females had its greatest
year to date, producing 118 hatchlings at both
facilities. In total the global captive population
of B. baska now numbers over 630.
With the iconic terrapin of the Sundarbans
now relatively safe from extinction, at least in
captivity, efforts are shifting to reintroduction.
As we continue to learn more about B. baska,
our successes will continue to improve. We are
confident that one day, through reintroductions
of animals hatched at our breeding colonies,
the Northern Terrapin will once again thrive
and breed in the Sundarbans of India and
Bangladesh.
Table. Population size in India and Bangladesh, presented as
Male.Female (1.1), and number of hatchlings produced each year
a96 at STR, 7 at Madras Crocodile Bank Trust
b100% egg mortality due to ant predation.
cwild caught juveniles in Bangladesh
done male with transmitter lost in 2017 and 5 males died until 2015
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Total
8.5
8.4
8.3
9.3
9.3
9.3
25/25
56/61
55/48
0 /11
103a/0b
84/118
323/263
-
6.2
12.4
15.5
16.6.3c
16.8.3c
17.8.3c
18.8.3c
27.8.4c
21d.8.4c
Year
India
Hatchlings
(India/Bangladesh)
Bangladesh
A male Northern River Terrapin is released into the Sundarbans with a satellite transmitter. This
initiative is supported by the Vienna Zoo, Bangladesh Forest Department, Turtle Island, Turtle
Survival Alliance, and the Prokriti O Jibon Foundation. PHOTO CREDIT: AGJ MORSHED
"This species has literally been pulled from the brink
of extinction through the collaborative efforts
of this bi-national program"
- Rick Hudson
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 49
In a recent article in the international journal
Conservation Biology, we demonstrate a the-
oretical basis for why headstarting programs
are a necessary conservation strategy for
stopping the declines of freshwater turtles
especially those primarily threatened by both
adult mortality or removal (due to roads,
predation, or harvest) and invasive predators
affecting multiple life history stages.
Once common widespread species are be-
coming locally extinct because the longevity
of turtles has hidden the impact of these
threats. Australia is now at the stage since
post-European settlement where the effects
of foxes and urban population sprawl (and
associated infrastructure) are being observed
through large declines and extinction events.
Declines of up to 91% have been observed
along the Murray River in southeastern Aus-
tralia. Wildlife diseases have become more
prevalent over the last decade, a symptom
of deteriorating water quality and climate
change. The net effect of these threats are
that freshwater turtle populations in south-
ern Australia are at high risks of extinction
without active management.
EUROPEAN RED FOXES
The European red fox was first introduced
into Australia in 1845. Other successful
releases followed in southern Australia in the
1870's and within 20 years, the red fox had
achieved pest status. The expansion of the
red fox population across mainland Australia
followed the spread of rabbits, with the fox's
distribution on mainland Australia limited by
the northern tropics.
Fox predation is having a serious impact
on many native animals and is a major
contributor to extinction of some species.
In the Murray River in Australia, mortality
rates of eggs have increased to over 93%.
This is likely to be replicated throughout the
distribution range of foxes, as changes in
nest predation rates are largely independent
of fox density, meaning that a single fox can
have a similar impact on turtle nests as a
high-density population of foxes.
Long-term, high levels of nest predation
have resulted in extreme aging populations,
and there are few available management
techniques to effectively eradicate foxes
over a broad scale. Poison baiting is the only
broad-scale management technique available
in Australia, and our trials demonstrated
Trouble Down Under: Problems Mount
for Australia's Freshwater Turtles
Ricky Spencer
A juvenile Bellinger River Snapping Turtle. Few remain after a disease brought the species to the brink of extinction in 2015. PHOTO CREDIT: RICKY SPENCER
FEATURE
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
50
Citizen Science data from TurtleSAT showing locations of depredated nests (yellow) and dead turtles (green and blue) killed by Foxes.
that only intensive, large-scale baiting can
effectively reduce nest predation rates. Other
common techniques, such as targeted shoot-
ing and fencing, may also reduce the impact
of foxes but are not cost-effective techniques
for broad-scale management.
Management of a population or a species
under threat often focuses directly on
reducing impacts on the life history stage(s)
affected. In doing so, focus inevitably is
directed to the threat, rather than on the
impacts on the affected population. Plant
biologists and conservationists have long
criticized classical biocontrol for lacking
quantitative assessments of effectiveness,
especially post-release, yet invasive verte-
brate pest management primarily focuses
on reducing densities of invasive predators
or herbivores. The core components of con-
servation policy to manage their impacts is
to reduce predator numbers in an area using
lethal methods. The actual efficacy (e.g.,
reduced impact on target species or increases
in biodiversity) of such programs are rarely
assessed and success is determined by the
number of carcasses, reduced activity of the
target species or the number of baits taken.
Efficacy of these programs is vital given the
limited resources available for most conser-
vation programs and the high costs associated
with lethal control. AU$21.3 million was
spent on labor costs alone for red fox control
in Australia between 1998 and 2003, but the
benefits to native prey are largely unknown.
INCREASING ADULT MORTALITY
In addition to nest predation, foxes also
kill adult turtles they encounter on land.
Australian turtles are resilient to high levels
of nest predation for sustained periods and
periodic levels of reduced nest predation and
pulse recruitment can maintain population
viability, but high levels of adult mortality
can drive populations to extinction.
Mortality of Australian turtles has increased
through disease, too. In February 2015, a
mystery disease almost drove the Bellinger
River Snapping Turtle (Myuchelys georgesi),
in northeastern New South Wales, Austra-
lia, to extinction in less than a month. The
disease did not affect other turtle species,
and the juvenile population of M. georgesi
appears unaffected. The cause of the disease
remains unknown but has been suggested
to be a novel virus. Our analysis adds to the
growing body of literature reporting that
climate change is having a detrimental effect
on organisms. The disease that brought the
species to the brink of extinction may be a
spectacular climax to an already declining or
stressed population.
An unusual mortality event also occurred
at the same time with the Johnstone River
Snapping Turtles (Elseya irwini) in Far
North Queensland, Australia. Similar to the
Bellinger River Snapping Turtle, moribund
animals were found lethargic with variable
degrees of necrotizing dermatitis and at the
time of the turtle deaths, water levels were
extremely low.
Water quality and drought are significant fac-
tors that have hastened population declines
of turtles in South Australia. In early 2008,
Murray River Turtles (Emydura macquarii)
infested with the Australian tubeworm
(Ficopomatus enigmaticus) were reported
at the mouth of the Murray River in South
Australia, and reported cases spread up-
stream until 2011. This emergent condition
in turtles is due to high water salinity in the
region. The worms form calcareous tubes
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 51
on hard surfaces of turtles and potentially
killed thousands of turtles, although the
exact number is not known. At current levels
of recruitment, it takes only 1% of the adult
population (~2% of adult females) to be
harvested from a population each year to in-
crease the risk of extinction (over 200 years)
to over 60%.
Road mortality is another source of adult
mortality that particularly targets nesting
females as they emerge to nest. Our Citizen
Science project, TurtleSAT, has shown
extensive road mortality of Eastern Long-
necked Turtles (Chelodina longicollis) in
southeastern Australia. Eastern Long-necked
Turtles are Australia's most widely distrib-
uted turtles, yet their numbers have declined
by 91% over the last 40 years in some areas.
PROGRESSIVE MANAGEMENT
With no recruitment in the region and
limited dispersal opportunities due to the
number of dams, the near-complete absence
of turtles at many sites in south Australia
is particularly disturbing because it was
first predicted over 30 years ago, and low
numbers have been subsequently reported.
Several states have recently listed Murray
River turtles as Threatened or Data Defi-
cient, but they are not listed at the federal
level, thus few conservation initiatives are
occurring. Species like Eastern Long-Neck
Turtles are not considered species of concern
or trigger protocols associated with Environ-
mental Impact Statements (EIS) for urban
development. It takes community groups,
such as Turtle Rescues NSW, to conduct last
minute rescues as developers drain and fill in
swamps and wetlands as urban development
expands throughout the Sydney basin.
Few freshwater turtles are actively managed
in Australia. The most prominent example is
the Western Swamp Tortoise (Pseudemydura
umbrina), which is one of Australia's most
endangered reptiles. It has the smallest sur-
viving population of any Australian reptile.
The Western Swamp Tortoise is listed as En-
dangered under the Environment Protection
and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
There are less than 200 endangered Western
Swamp Tortoises, restricted to only two wild
populations, remaining near Perth in western
Australia. Less than 50 individuals survived
30 years ago, but since 1988, a successful
breeding program has allowed translocation
of captive-bred juveniles to three sites.
Similarly, the Bellinger River Snapping
Turtles is now Critically Endangered under
the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999. During the disease
outbreak with the Bellinger River Snapping
Turtle, I was part of a large rescue team that
collected 16 healthy adult turtles before the
disease reached the upper stretches of the
River. These turtles are now part of a breeding
Eastern Long Neck Turtle encrusted by a marine tubeworm during the 2008-2011 drought in South
Australia. PHOTO CREDIT: DEANNE SMITH (ALEXANDRINA WILDLIFE)
Some of the 2000 headstarted Murray River Turtles released into South Australia. PHOTO CREDIT:
RICKY SPENCER
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
52
program that will hopefully implement a
successful headstarting program over the
next few years.
Headstarting is generally seen as a manage-
ment tool of last resort when species crash
and become critically endangered. Captive
breeding and headstarting has not been com-
monly used as a conservation strategy for
freshwater turtles in Australia. High financial
costs, as well as landscape level discon-
nectivity among populations, have prob-
ably restricted its use, and past population
modelling suggests that conservation efforts
are more effective when focused on reducing
adult mortality. However, we clearly show
that the criticism of headstarting as "half-
way technology" is erroneous, especially in
cases where external threats affect multiple
life history stages of freshwater turtles. The
"halfway technology" argument assumes
that all perturbations or mitigating factors af-
fecting turtle populations can be eradicated,
but in Australia, factors that impact turtles
in southern Australia are multi-factorial and
will never dissipate until populations are
extinct or technology to reduce threats from
invasive predators becomes more effective.
Headstarting should be the primary conser-
vation tool for managing freshwater turtles
in decline.
Headstarting programs with small captive
populations of Galapagos tortoises and Bur-
mese star tortoises have proven successful at
restoring population numbers. But the value
of headstarting as a management tool goes
beyond critically endangered species. In
cases where "common" turtles are declining,
developing suitable harvest populations in
situ is the key. Many common species of
turtle occur in integrated wetlands and water
treatment plants (e.g., constructed wetlands)
throughout their range, and these facilities
may provide a tool for low cost headstart-
ing programs for widespread but declining
populations. The reproductive potential of
turtles in constructed wetlands represents a
potential pre-existing resource for developing
localized headstarting programs in situ. A
simplistic model where relative densities of
the Eastern Long-necked Turtle are based
on surface area of water demonstrates that
all eggs/hatchlings collected from 1 hectare
of water can service ~25 hectares of water
in a region to maintain population growth
at pre-European levels and completely
eliminate the risk of population extinction.
Our models also demonstrate that periodic
increases in recruitment can sustain popula-
tions, potentially allowing populations in a
region to be managed in a mosaic fashion.
In other words, not all populations need to
be actively managed each year.
That is the key. Their longevity ensures that
they are resilient to annual variation in mor-
tality, which provides management with the
flexibility to manage populations over wide
spatial and temporal scales.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Research has
been supported by the Australian Re-
search Council Linkage Grant Program
(LP150100007), North-Central Catch-
ment Management Authority, Yorta Yorta
Aboriginal Corporation, Foundation for
National Parks and Wildlife, Victorian De-
partment of Land, Environment, Water
and Planning, Winton Wetlands, Turtles
Australia, Inc. and Save Lake Bonney
Group Inc.
CONTACT: Ricky Spencer, School of
Science, Hawkesbury Institute for the
Environment, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith,
2751, NSW, Australia


[r.spencer@westernsydney.edu.au]
Loss of habitat from urban sprawl puts turtles at risk, but community groups like Turtle Rescues NSW and Alexandrina Wildlife, relocate and rehabilitate
turtles. PHOTO CREDIT: TURTLE RESCUES NSW
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 53
TSA PARTNER NEWS
Two Million-Dollar Turtle Funds: Turtle Conservation
Fund (TCF) and Mohamed bin Zayed Species
Conservation Fund (MBZ)
In 2017, two of the most prominent turtle
conservation funding organizations in our
global community, the Turtle Conservation
Fund (TCF) and the Mohamed bin Zayed
Species Conservation Fund (MBZ), each
achieved the significant milestone of reach-
ing the $1 million mark for dedicated turtle
and tortoise conservation funding. The TCF
celebrated its milestone at the TSA/TFTSG
Symposium in Charleston in August, and the
MBZ reached its milestone in September at
a combined meeting with the Turtle Conser-
vancy in New York.
The TCF was founded in 2002 by the Inter-
national Union for Conservation of Nature
Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist
Group, the Turtle Survival Alliance, and
Conservation International, and through
2017 has provided funding for 234 projects
focused on turtles and tortoises for a total
disbursement of $1,024,000 at an average
of $4,377 per project. Current supporting
partners in the TCF now also include Turtle
Conservancy, Global Wildlife Conservation,
Humane Society International of Australia,
George Meyer and Maria Semple, Matt
Frankel, the Chelonian Research Foundation,
and the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation.
The TCF Board is composed of Anders
Rhodin, Hugh Quinn, Gary Ades, Chris
Banks, Kurt Buhlmann, Bernard Devaux,
Matt Frankel, Paul Gibbons, Eric Goode,
Cris Hagen, Brian Horne, Rick Hudson, John
Iverson, Gerald Kuchling, Richard Lewis,
Luca Luiselli, George Meyer, Russ Mitter-
meier, Vivian Pez, Peter Pritchard, Martina
Raffel, Maurice Rodrigues, Craig Stanford,
Peter Paul van Dijk, and Andrew Walde.
The MBZ was founded in 2008 by His
Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and
through 2017 has provided a total of about
$16 million in grants to 1,677 projects, with
102 projects focused on turtles and tortoises,
for a total turtle disbursement of $1,019,000
at an average of $9,988 per project. The
MBZ Advisory Board is headed by Razan
Al Mubarak and Fred Launay.
Over the last year, the turtle-focused dis-
tributions of these two funds have made a
major difference for many worthy projects
working to save endangered turtles and tor-
toises. MBZ funded nine turtle and tortoise
The MBZ Advisory Board meeting in New York in September 2017. Front row, left to right: Russ Mittermeier, Mike Parr, Fred Launay, Topis
Contreras MacBeath, Anders Rhodin; back row, left to right: Claude Gascon, Jim Sanderson, Bill Konstant, Sanjay Molur, Mike Maunder, Micky
Soorae, Jean-Christophe Vi, Nicolas Heard. Not present: Razan Al Mubarak.
Anders G.J. Rhodin1,2, Hugh R. Quinn1, Russell A. Mittermeier1,2,
Nicolas Heard2, Frederic Launay2, and Razan Al Mubarak2
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
54
PROJECTS FUNDED BY TCF OVER THE PAST YEAR:
Agyekumhene, A. Kinixys in Ghana;
Bishop, N. Dermatemys mawii;
Bock, B. Podocnemis lewyana;
Currylow, A. Astrochelys radiata;
Juvik, J. Homopus solus;
Keeler, H. Glyptemys muhlenbergii;
Kuchling, G. Astrochelys yniphora;
Loehr, V. Homopus boulengeri;
Luiselli, L. South Sudan;
Mandimbihasina, A. Astrochelys yniphora;
McCormack, T. Rafetus swinhoei;
Palomo-Ramos, R. Gopherus flavomarginatus;
Petrov, K. Myuchelys georgesi;
Randrianjafizanaka, T. Astrochelys radiata;
Shirley, M. Kinixys in Guinea;
Thong, P.V. Cuora zhoui;
Walker, R. Astrochelys radiata and Pyxis arachnoides.
PROJECTS FUNDED BY MBZ OVER THE PAST YEAR:
Agyei, V. Kinixys homeana in Ghana;
Alzate Estrada, D. Podocnemis lewyana;
Drummond, G. Mesoclemmys hogei;
Guntoro, J. Batagur borneoensis in Sumatra;
Juvik, J. Psammobates geometricus;
Kuchling, G. Astrochelys yniphora;
Light, C. Indotestudo forstenii and Leucocephalon yuwonoi;
Luiselli, L. South Sudan;
Perdamaian, A. Chitra chitra javanensis.
proposals: eight regular awards at an average
of $9,670, and one Chairman's Award for
$23,900, for a total one-year disbursement of
$101,260. TCF funded 17 turtle and tortoise
proposals at an average of $4,124, for a
total one-year disbursement of $70,100. The
synergy between these two funds, with Mit-
termeier and Rhodin on the advisory boards
of both, has been very beneficial to inter-
national turtle conservation efforts, with a
combined disbursement from MBZ and TCF
of $171,360 this past year, up from $160,000
the year before.
Both TCF and MBZ greatly value the support
of the turtle conservation community in our
efforts and we are honored and pleased to be
able to provide as much support as we do for
so many of the critically important front-line
and on-the-ground efforts on behalf of global
turtle conservation. By continuing to expand
and grow our capacity for providing support,
we hope to make an increasingly important
impact on all turtle conservation efforts.
Please consider submitting your grant pro-
posals to us for consideration.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: 1Turtle Conser-
vation Fund; 2Mohamed bin Zayed Species
Conservation Fund
Renowned artist Tom Tischler's second sculpture in his Tischler
Art for Conservation (TAFC) project is a Galapagos Tortoise
dedicated to the Turtle Survival Alliance. The TAFC project was
created to provide impact beyond what Tom's life-sized
sculptures, seen in more than 100 zoos, museums, and private
collections around the world, have had on their viewers. Forty
percent of the purchase price of each sculpture is donated to a
conservation organization selected by Tischler to support
programs in the field so that the subjects of his wildlife
sculptures can live on for future generations.
The Galapagos Tortoise measures approximately 6 in (15 cm)
long (tail to nose) by 4 in (10 cm) wide and weighs approxi-
mately 4 lb (1.8 kg). The sculpture is cast in bronze with a hand
applied and rubbed patina that makes each individual a unique
creation. Forty percent of the purchase price supports TSA
conservation programs and includes shipping within the U.S.
Shipment confirmation and tracking information will be
provided by TAFC. Please visit www.turtlesurvival.org and visit
the online store to purchase your limited edition bronze today.
TISCHLER ART
FOR CONSERVATION
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 55
TSA EUROPE
PARTNER NEWS
Significant Breedings of Asian Turtles in Europe
European hobbyists continue to establish more solid breeding colonies and profession-
alize their chelonian husbandry. They are upgrading both housing and diet with the goal
of more successful reproduction. Although the total numbers of turtles being bred might
still be low, numbers of both hatchlings and breeders are increasing for several hard-to-
breed species. For example, within the genus Cuora, all species currently kept in Europe
(except for Yunnan Box Turtle (C. yunnanensis)) were bred successfully in 2017.
Most notable is the world's first F2 generation hatching of Zhou's Box Turtle (C. zhoui)
at the Cuora Conservation Center. The center also hatched multiple Central Vietnamese
Three-striped Box Turtles (C. cyclornata annamitica) and is sending a group of Three-
striped Box Turtle (C. trifasciata) to Kadoorie Farms & Botanical Garden in Hong
Kong. This has also been a good year for rare aquatic Cuora including Yellow-headed
Box Turtle (C. aurocapitata), Pan's Box Turtle (C. pani), McCord's Box Turtle (C.
mccordi) and Hainan Three-striped Box Turtle (C. t. luteocephala).
The most commonly bred Cuora is Yellow-margined Box Turtle (C. flavomarginata),
especially in Italy, where some large colonies produce dozens of offspring annually. The
subspecies from Japan's Ryukyu Islands, C. f. evelynae, is also being bred at several
locations. A few private locations that received confiscated specimens successfully bred
shortly thereafter. At a single private German location, 23 specimens have been bred in a
five-year period, with four in 2017.
Breeding within the Indochinese Box Turtle (C. galbinifrons) complex is ongoing, with
a fourth European location having bred all three species: Indochinese Box Turtle (C.
galbinifrons), Bourret's Box Turtle (C. bourreti), and Southern Vietnam Box Turtle
(C. picturata). Of these, C. picturata seems to be the hardest to breed, having the lowest
fecundity. Even so, throughout the last decade, limited numbers have hatched annually
at three private locations. Reproduction of these F1 animals can be expected soon.
In the United Kingdom, Bristol Zoo Gardens celebrated their first successful Keeled
Box Turtle (C. mouhotii) breeding. After caring for the adults for 12 years and having
produced several unsuccessful clutches in the past, three eggs hatched this year, making
Bristol Zoo Gardens the first European Zoo successful with the species.
Besides Cuora, several other significant births took place in 2017. At ReHerp in the
Netherlands, a Vietnamese Pond Turtle (Mauremys annamensis) hatched in September;
their first success. In France, the nation's first successful Big-headed Turtle (Platyster-
non megacephalum) breeding occurred when an entire clutch of five eggs hatched simul-
taneously. In Germany and Austria, several subspecies of this species have been bred for
many years. Since 2016, the first fertile eggs of this species have been produced in the
Netherlands. Ryukyu Black-breasted Leaf Turtles (Geoemyda japonica) are being bred
in very low numbers but more keepers are succeeding with this species. The species was
first reproduced in the Netherlands in 2016 and at two locations in 2017.
Richard P.J.H. Struijk
Breeding facility for terrestrial Cuoras including South
Vietnam Box Turtle, Indochinese Box Turtle, and
Yellow-margined Box Turtle.
Mating attempt between Indochinese Box Turtles.
PHOTO CREDIT: RICHARD STRUIJK
Private breeding facilities for aquatic Cuoras.
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
56
TSA EUROPE
Turtle Survival Alliance Europe Refocuses
In 2016, I was asked to lead the European wing of TSA. In
2012, I was deeply honored to be invited onto the committee by
Henk Zwartepoorte and Hans Dieter Philippen. Since that time
both became close mentors and friends. The past year has not
been easy after the unexpected loss of both Hans Dieter (Vice
Chair) and Henk (Chairman) who represented such a large part of
the European conservation community. The wealth of knowledge
they were always so willing to share with such modesty was an
inspiration.
Moving forward, TSA Europe is united in our resolve to con-
tinue our work. Core supported work with ReHerp, European
Studbook Foundation, and fields we previously supported have
continued, while the TSA team has come together to devise a new
strategic plan. I am pleased to report that over the past year we
have made positive progress and now have a plan for the future
with the united mission of zero turtle extinctions.
A new committee is in place to help coordinate conservation
work in and around Europe. Due to the diversity of languages,
we aim to appoint a diverse representation of nationalities for
both committee and advisory members. TSA Europe has appoint-
ed Jo Keogh as communications officer to assist with framework
and reports. Jo is experienced in conference and zoo work and we
are pleased to welcome her aboard.
A key focus is further strengthening the community, with in-
creased reporting and networking opportunities, through attend-
ing and hosting key events. The hope is to create a smaller local
conference based on the existing Symposium on the Conservation
and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles to help build
relationships within Europe and strengthen a united front towards
zero turtle extinctions.
CONTACT: Eleanor T Chubb, TSA Europe, P.O. BOX 249,
Bracon Ash, Norfolk, NR14 8WY, United Kingdom
[eleanor@turtlesurvival.eu]

TSA Europe Committee
Eleanor Tirtasana Chubb (Chairman) (UK)
Kim Simmons (Co Vice Chair) Zoo sector (UK)
Didier Laurent (Co Vice Chair) ESF (BE) Treasurer
Job Stumpel Veterinary advisor (NL)
Gerardo Garcia Zoo advisor (ES)
Jo Keogh Communications Officer (UK)
Areas of Focus for TSA Europe
Develop the TSA Europe community through focused reporting on significant work as it happens and community networking via
attending and hosting events.
Collaborate with the zoo community to establish and build viable conservation initiatives in captivity and in the field.
Continue links and support with the European Studbook Foundation and ReHerp Project.
Actively encourage European initiatives and work within the research, private, trade, and zoo communities as well as in the field.
Continue to support field studies, captive breeding programs, and research in Europe and immediate surrounding areas.
Strengthen communication and links with the Turtle Survival Alliance and contribute on a united front to national campaigns
within Europe.
Eleanor Tirtasana Chubb
Eleanor Tirtasana Chubb
PARTNER NEWS
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 57
BEHLER AWARD
Peter Paul van Dijk, 2017 Behler Turtle
Conservation Award Recipient
The 12th annual Behler Turtle Conservation
Award celebrated and honored Peter Paul van
Dijk for his quarter-century of dedication to
turtle science and conservation.
Peter Paul likes to point out that he was born
in what was a good year for turtle research
and conservation: 1967. That was the year
Peter Pritchard published Living Turtles of the
World, John Goode published his book on the
Chelid Turtles of Australia, and Whit Gibbons
began his groundbreaking work on Trachemys
scripta at the Savannah River Ecology Lab.
Growing up in the Netherlands, a cool, damp
country with no native turtles, Peter Paul's
childhood interest in animals initially focused
on fish, aquarium keeping, and the occasional
tortoise. Of course, there was the inevitable
hatchling Red-eared Slider early on, but
turtles did not enter Peter Paul's life until
several years later when, as an 11-year-old,
he was presented with a bucket of four adult
Red-ears. That opened the floodgates to what
would eventually grow into a collection of
various turtle species filling a greenhouse.
Peter Paul supported his aquarium and turtle
hobby by working Saturdays in a pet shop
with a large aquarium section, giving him
up close familiarity with a range of species
from all corners of the Earth (at a time when
the pet wildlife trade was rarely perceived as
detrimental) and fueling curiosity about the
places and habitats from where these animals
originated.
After completing secondary school in the
Netherlands, Peter Paul moved to western
Ireland to study Zoology at the National
University of Ireland in Galway. He took up
scuba diving, did a BSc thesis on taxonomy
of the gobiid fish genus Lebetus, and was well
on his way to becoming a fisheries biologist
monitoring Atlantic
commercial fish stocks.
Turtles and herpetology
looked to remain a spare
time hobby, including
such highlights as attend-
ing the First World Con-
gress of Herpetology in
Canterbury in 1989 and
becoming inspired by the
people he met who had
been surveying Indian
turtles, breeding the
Ploughshare Tortoise, res-
cuing the Western Swamp
Turtle, and discovering new side-necked turtles
(when we both met him for the first time).
Peter Paul started his postgraduate studies
in late 1990. He was faced with the prospect
of spending the winter doing little more
than reading papers in the lab because sea
conditions would be too rough for sampling.
Instead, with support from his research super-
visor James J. Dunne, Peter Paul decided to
indulge his childhood fascination with turtles
and other small tropical animals and booked a
three-month-long trip to Thailand. He hoped
to travel onwards and do some initial turtle
survey work in Myanmar, Viet Nam, or Laos.
Peter Paul never received a visa to enter any
of those countries on his trip, but through an
introduction from Padraigh O'Ceidigh, his
Professor of Zoology in Galway, he con-
nected with Kumthorn Thirakhupt at Chu-
lalongkorn University in Bangkok. Kumthorn
had recently decided to switch his research
focus from birds to tortoises, and a long-term
collaboration and friendship between the two
took off immediately.
That trip to Thailand was the start of a new
chapter for Peter Paul, who spent most of
the 1990s in Thailand. Together, Kumthorn
and Peter Paul surveyed the distribution and
status of the tortoises and freshwater turtles
of Thailand, researched natural history and
conservation biology of turtles, and studied
a variety of wetlands, fish, and herpetofaunal
assemblages. Peter Paul completed his doctor-
al research and dissertation on the natural
history of the Elongated Tortoise (Indotestudo
elongata) in the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife
Sanctuary. This provided Peter Paul with ex-
tensive experience and solitude in a mosaic of
seasonally deciduous and evergreen tropical
forest, and a deep appreciation of the interre-
lationships and complexities of its ecology.
Perhaps more valuable than all the turtle
research taken together was a rainy afternoon
spent cooped up in the guest bungalow of
Mae Yom National Park. Peter Paul and a few
colleagues were surveying the herpetofauna
of the park as part of an environmental impact
assessment (EIA) for the proposed Kaen Sua
Ten dam across the Yom River. The initial
EIA had reported that the dam and the 65-km2
reservoir it would create would not signifi-
cantly affect natural resource and biodiversity
values. However, researchers from Mahidol
Anders Rhodin
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
58
University had drawn attention to the ex-
pected flooding of Thailand's last remaining
native Teak (Tectona grandis) forest by the
reservoir, as well as impacts on the park's
biodiversity values. Thus, the World Bank
commissioned Chulalongkorn University
to conduct a third, limited EIA to evaluate
the two competing previous EIAs, and so
Kumthorn, Peter Paul, and their colleagues
found themselves at Mae Yom in the wet
season of 1996.
Curious about the extent of the proposed
reservoir, Peter Paul started tracing the 260 m
altitude contour line and suddenly a much
larger reservoir appeared on the map. In
addition to the previously predicted 65 km2
reservoir tapering at its northern end between
some hills, there appeared to be a large
expanse of shallowly flooded land, used for
agriculture, creating a total reservoir area
somewhere between 79 and 114 km2. This
realization was subsequently confirmed by
GIS and cartography reassessments. With the
prospect of drowning more agricultural land
than would benefit from improved irrigation
downstream, the World Bank withdrew its
backing from the project. To date, the dam
and reservoir remain a shelved plan and a
conservation victory.
Peter Paul traveled to Myanmar in subsequent
years, catching tantalizing glimpses of the
possible survival of Batagur trivittata and
documenting the persistence of Geochelone
platynota in 1993. He collected and identified
the first confirmed specimen of Chitra from
the Mon River in 1994; these Ayeyarwady
Chitra were described as a new species in
2003, named Chitra vandijki by McCord and
Pritchard.
In the 1990s came the first indications of
extensive collection and trade of wild turtles
from the forests and wetlands of Southeast
Asia. Peter Paul recognized the possible
threat to Asian turtle survival and realized
that life as a non-salaried research associate
at Chulalongkorn could not last forever. This
prompted him to join TRAFFIC South East
Asia in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, just in time
to co-represent the organization at the Asian
Turtle Trade workshop in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, in December 1999. With Bryan
Stuart and Anders, he focused on editing the
workshop's proceedings into a monograph
published by Chelonian Research Founda-
tion. The seminal monograph was widely
cited in subsequent years as governments and
NGOs tried to come to terms with the scale
of the challenge and the measures needed to
prevent total extirpation of Asia's native turtle
populations.
That was the tipping point. Peter Paul left
natural history research behind and fo-
cused on becoming a trade data analyst and
policy-focused conservationist with a strong
focus on the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES). Over the years, Peter Paul
has supported preparation of several propos-
als to extend international trade regulation
and supervision to several Asian and other
freshwater turtle species. He's analyzed the
impact of Asian turtle trade for CITES, pre-
pared guidelines for non-detriment findings
for turtle populations subject to international
trade, and reviewed the scale and scope of
illegal turtle trade, among others.
While focused on wielding CITES as a
conservation tool, Peter Paul left Malaysia for
his native Netherlands. He was hired by Russ
at Conservation International and encouraged
to move to Washington, DC, to lead their
Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Conservation
Program. This enabled extensive support
for turtle conservation initiatives by CI's
regional programs around the world, as well
as resuming work on assessing all tortoise
and freshwater turtle species for the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species. Ongoing
assessments quantified the bleak picture that
at least half of all turtle species are threatened
with extinction.
Peter Paul was also at the core of CI's
Wildlife Trade program, linking on-the-
ground efforts by CI and other NGO country
programs with policy developments at CITES
and in government wildlife departments in
Washington, DC, London, Brussels, and
elsewhere. As CI's mission evolved, Peter
Paul recently found a new professional set of
homes at Global Wildlife Conservation and
the Turtle Conservancy. He focuses on in situ
conservation work for severely threatened tor-
toises and freshwater turtles in Mexico, South
Africa, Madagascar, and elsewhere, while
remaining involved in CITES. He is currently
the Nomenclature member of the Animals
Committee.
Over the years, Peter Paul has been a core
contributor to the Turtle Taxonomy Working
Group Checklists, conservation strategies in
various countries, and a wide range of pub-
lications. He was Deputy Chair of the IUCN
Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist
Group under Anders from 2000 to 2012, Co-
Chair with Brian Horne from 2012 to early
2017, and is currently Deputy Chair under
Craig Stanford. He also sits on the review
board of the Turtle Conservation Fund, and
has been a mentor, mediator, and partnership
builder for many in the turtle research and
conservation community.
In our estimation, Peter Paul is a walking
encyclopedia of turtle biology, taxonomy, and
conservation. He is both a critically important
resource and highly respected leader for the
global turtle conservation community, having
focused a large portion of his efforts on
improving regulatory aspects of the unsus-
tainable global turtle trade. He is a clear and
logical thinker, amazingly good at providing
reality checks and critical insight on new
ideas that emerge and evolve. More than
that, he is a close and trusted friend and most
valued colleague.
Although the great majority of his time is now
spent in front of a computer, Peter Paul relish-
es any opportunity to see wild turtles in their
natural habitat, whether a highly threatened
tortoise in a desert area, critically endangered
Ploughshare Tortoises in Madagascar, a
snapping turtle in a clear water river, or a box
turtle nesting in his own backyard in Virginia.
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 59
MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
We Are the TSA
CRISTINA JONES

Hometown: Tucson, Arizona.
Occupation: Turtles Project
Coordinator, Arizona Game and
Fish Department.
What first sparked your interest
in turtles/tortoises?
My family is exceptionally outdoorsy. In
my youth, we spent nearly every weekend
and extended weeks camping, hiking, and
exploring. During a family hike when
I was four years old, I encountered my
first Sonoran Desert Tortoise (Gopherus
morafkai) in the wild. I was in awe of this
animal and we sat quietly for nearly
an hour, watching it meander, exploring
plants and grasses, taking more bites from
one than another. From that moment, I
was completely hooked on turtles.
What do you think are the most
pressing challenges for chelonian
conservationists?
Limited resources in the forms of
staff and/or funding are among the
most pressing challenges faced by
chelonian conservationists. Prioritizing
and implementing conservation and
management actions for the many species
that occupy the vast landscapes in the
Southwest with so few resources is
an ongoing challenge. As an example,
one of the largest threats to turtles in
the Southwest is habitat loss through
destruction or modification and any type
of habitat restoration takes a tremendous
amount of time and funding.
Living in a state with only a
small handful of native chelonian
species, how do you keep turtle
and tortoise conservation relevant
in Arizona?
That's easy the love people have for
turtles truly fosters an environment of
inclusivity and collaboration. When I
mention turtles to friends, colleagues,
and members of the public nearly
every person expresses their love for
turtles! Through this united passion, I
am able to recruit volunteers, develop
unique partnerships, and lead multiple
working groups. Volunteers assist with
such endeavors as turtle trapping at The
Phoenix Zoo, recording observations
for the Ornate Box Turtle Watch citizen
science project, or conducting Sonoran
Desert Tortoise surveys and when they
return, they always bring friends! I strive
to provide hope, share successes, and look
at all possible approaches where we can
make a difference.
What is your dream location and
species to work with in the field?
While I am fascinated by many chelonian
taxa worldwide, my dream is to stay in
Arizona and maintain a position in turtle
conservation and management. I would
love to utilize my knowledge, leadership,
and enthusiasm to increase awareness
regarding the status, natural history, and
conservation needs of species found in
Arizona and the Southwest. If I had to
pick a single species to work with in the
field, I would be torn between the highly
charismatic Desert Box Turtle (Terrapene
ornata luteola) and the Sonora Mud
Turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense), whose
populations have been adversely effected
by invasive predators.
CHRISTINE LIGHT
Hometown: Woodside, New York
Occupation: Biologist
How did you first become
involved with the TSA?
In 2010, while working as the Assistant
Curator of Fish, Invertebrates, and Herps
at the Downtown Aquarium in Denver, I
spent a year successfully rehabilitating a
male Painted Terrapin (Batagur bor-
neoensis) that had surgery to remove an
impaction. After doing some research, I
came across the work that Joko Gontoro
was doing in Indonesia and I wanted
to get involved. In 2011, I organized a
week-long World Turtle Day fundraiser
at the aquarium with all proceeds going
to the TSA's Painted Terrapin (Batagur
borneoensis) headstarting program in
Sumatra, Indonesia.
When did you first realize you
wanted a career in conservation
and why?
After spending time rehabilitating turtles
and researching the plight that chelonians
are facing, I realized that I wanted to focus
my career in turtle conservation. In 2012,
I attended my first TSA conference and
presented on the rehabilitation work with
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
60
B. borneoensis. I was lucky enough to
meet many people who were involved in
turtle conservation and the presentations
were very inspiring. Five months later I
was working at the Turtle Conservancy
where I also took on the role of the SSP
Coordinator and Regional Studbook
Keeper for the Forsten's Tortoise. As the
SSP Coordinator, my main responsibilities
were to oversee the management of the
captive population and to enhance conser-
vation of the species in the wild.
Can you tell us a little about your
conservation work in Sulawesi,
Indonesia and why it's important?
The forests on Sulawesi have been cleared
at an increasing rate, primarily for palm oil
production. Despite being part of an im-
portant biogeographical area, Sulawesi has
not been afforded much conservation at-
tention. The lack of research or conserva-
tion efforts focused primarily on the only
two endemic chelonians on the island, the
endangered Forsten's Tortoise (Indotestu-
do forstenii) and the critically endangered
Sulawesi Forest Turtle (Leucocephalon
yuwonoi) is driving them toward extinc-
tion. By determining status and distribu-
tion for both species, we can work toward
ensuring their long-term survivability as
we develop a better understanding of the
conservation initiatives that need to be
employed.
Can you describe what your
dream situation working with tur-
tles and tortoises would look like?
I've been living my dream situation work-
ing with turtles and tortoises! I spent three
years as the Collection Manager at the
Turtle Conservancy working with some
of the most endangered chelonian species.
Through these experiences and the con-
nections that I developed while working at
the TC, I was afforded the opportunity to
develop the project I am currently working
on with I. forstenii and L. yuwonoi in Su-
lawesi. Hopefully the dream continues and
I can accomplish some important conser-
vation work for these declining species.
NICK BADHAM
Hometown: Kenosha, WI
Occupation: CNC Machinist
What attracted you to become
part of the TSA?
There are many things that attracted me
to the TSA. After reading and hearing
about several projects and programs that
they are involved in, it would inspire most
any conservation-minded turtle nerd to
want to be a part of it. As I talked to more
people about the TSA, the more I found
a common bond of acceptance through
the members. Whether you're a biologist,
zookeeper, or private keeper, we are all
fighting for the same thing.
How did you first get involved
with turtles and tortoises?
I have always had a deep love for animals,
especially reptiles and amphibians. Grow-
ing up, I had supportive parents that taught
us the importance of conservation, and
who also let us keep just about any reptile
or amphibian we wanted. In my early
teens I was actually really into snakes
above all else; it was my twin brother
Cody who had more turtles growing up.
In an attempt to prove how different we
were as individuals, we kept opposite
critters. More often than I would admit
at the time, I would sneak into his room
and admire his turtles or take care of them
any chance I got. It didn't take me long
to realize that chelonians are much more
responsive and interactive roommates than
snakes are!
In what ways does your career
allow you to continue pursuing
your passion?
I would think that the main way my
career allows me to pursue my passion
is the fact that I am able to afford a very
expensive hobby. Anybody who keeps
turtles or tortoises knows that lighting,
enclosures, food, and substrate is certain-
ly not cheap. Especially when you don't
listen to your wife and keep getting more
and more of them.
Just being able to support some of the
greater conservation efforts of the TSA
through membership, and donations
or gifts to the Turtle Survival Center,
has really kept my passion strong. As a
private keeper that works a blue-collared
job, contributing any extra allowances
towards turtle conservation reassures me
that maybe I am not just an insignificant
turtle keeper.
If you could be directly involved
with any of our range country
programs, which would it be and
why?
That is a terribly tough question. I suppose
after choosing an often-times monotonous
career, I would love to be involved with
any of the TSA's programs. The chance
to travel to exotic locations, immersing
oneself into unique cultures, and working
with passionate turtle people is something
that I could only dream of. Given the com-
mitments I have made to my own shelled
friends, I couldn't see myself anywhere
other than the Turtle Survival Center. It
would surely be the best of both worlds.
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 61
Making Connections
For many of us, that first encounter that first touch of a turtle happened years ago. This initial experience during our formative
years would be foundational in creating "a life measured by turtles." At the Turtle Survival Alliance, we understand the fundamental
value of that first touch and aim to ignite a passion in others by sharing in that experience. Through outreach events, fundraisers, group
presentations, and school field trips, our staff and associates provide direct interaction with turtles and tortoises; bridging the gap
through knowledge sharing with those in our communities. From young children to adults, we strive to fulfill our duties as conserva-
tion warriors by recognizing the inquisitiveness and potential in everyone around us and create catalytic moments for those eager to
learn. It takes a community to make chelonian conservation work!
A student marvels at two Indian Tent Turtles at the TSA and Uttar Pradesh Forest and Wildlife Department's celebration for World Turtle Day in Kukrail, India.
PHOTO CREDIT: ARUNIMA SINGH
Students from Mason Preparatory School participate in a field trip at the
Turtle Survival Center. Under the leadership of Cindy Renkas, 4th, 5th, and
6th Grade Science Teacher, students have attended school trips at the Turtle
Survival Center since 2015. PHOTO CREDIT: ILZE ASTAD
Cris Hagen and Jordan Gray educate school children at the Berkeley County
Kids Who Care, Inc.'s "Backyard NatureScope" at the Old Santee Canal Park
in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. PHOTO CREDIT: ILZE ASTAD
Jordan Gray
OUTREACH
To schedule a tour of the Turtle Survival Center, please contact Cris Hagen, Director of Animal Management, at chagen@turtlesurvival.org.
To schedule an outreach event please contact Jordan Gray, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, at jgray@turtlesurvival.org.
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
62
BREWERY PARTNERSHIPS
Drink Beer, Save Turtles
What happens when you combine two things people love? A fun
slogan and fantastic way to bring people together for conservation
awareness.
In 2014, the TSA first collaborated with Martin House Brewing in Fort
Worth, Texas, to create an event where attendees could interact with
and chat about turtles and tortoises while sipping on a specially
made Blackberry Altbier. Since that first "Drink Beer, Save Turtles"
event, the TSA has collaborated with breweries in Austin, TX,
Charleston, SC, and Pittsburgh, PA, as well as brew pubs throughout
the country. These collaborations have purveyed limited edition
beers, merchandise, outreach, and tasting events to raise funds and
awareness for the plight of turtles. Participants in 2017:
Spoonwood Brewing
Company, Pittsburgh, PA
spoonwoodbrewing.com
Turtle Recall
7.2% India Pale Ale with
coconut, lime zest,
lactose, and vanilla bean
TSA partner since 2016
Holy City Brewing Company, Charleston, SC
holycitybrewing.com
Space Turtle
7.9% India Pale Ale infused with green tea
TSA partner since 2015
The County Line Legendary Bar-B-Q, Austin, TX
countyline.com
TSA partner since 2016
Hops and Grain
Brewing, Austin, TX
hopsandgrain.com
River Beer
5.2% Premium American
Lager with premium
German malt, hops, and
lager yeast
TSA partner since 2017
Interested in hosting a "Drink Beer, Save Turtles" event at your favorite local bar, taproom, or brewery?
Please contact Jordan Gray, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, at jgray@turtlesurvival.org
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 63
Become A TSA Member
The TSA works with more than 100 (approximately one-third) of the tortoise and freshwater turtle
species around the globe.
The TSA directly impacts 20 of the World's Top 25 Most Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles.
This effort is supported by a global network of conservationists, field biologists, animal care technicians,
veterinarians, governmental and non-governmental organizations, private stakeholders, citizen scientists,
and YOU, our loyal supporter.
As a TSA member, you will receive our annual publication, bi-weekly e-newsletter, discounted conference
registration, opportunities with the TSA's North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group, and other
exclusive benefits throughout the year. TSA members also enjoy a 10% discount every day on most items
in the TSA's online store. Most importantly, your support directly moves us closer to our goal of "zero
turtle extinctions!"
Joining has never been easier as we have five levels of membership (figures represent annual dues):
Individual ($50)
Student ($25)
Senior ($25)
North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group ($30)
Organizational ($400)
*If you would like to make your membership "green" we also have membership levels that will not
receive a hard copy of the TSA's annual publication by mail, but instead an electronic version!
Become a TSA member at www.turtlesurvival.org.
Once you're a member, log into your membership account and select "Member Benefits" from the
dropdown menu to learn about additional offers and rewards throughout the year!
Thank you for your support!
Help Conserve Turtles and Tortoises for
Future Generations
For additional information on the "Zero Turtle Extinctions
Legacy Circle" or planned giving options, please contact Rick
Hudson, President, at rhudson@turtlesurvival.org
1. Our "Zero Turtle Extinctions Legacy Circle" is an honorary
association that recognizes individuals whose planned gift has
been received or been established to provide a future benefit
to the Turtle Survival Alliance.
Provide for the future needs of our mission by naming the
Turtle Survival Alliance as a beneficiary in your estate plans.
A gift to the "Zero Turtle Extinctions Legacy Circle" will insure
that the Turtle Survival Alliance continues its mission of zero
turtle extinctions for years to come. Thank you for taking the
time to explore the benefits of gift planning, including life
income gifts, gift annuities, mutual funds, real estate, life insur-
ance, and other plans.
2. Support the Turtle Survival Alliance by donating to the TSA
Stewardship Fund. Your gift will have a significant impact on
the future by helping to provide an ongoing income.
Ways to support The Turtle Survival Alliance
1. Make a Donation Your support moves us closer to a goal of zero turtle extinctions.
2. Join the TSA Become a member of the TSA or buy a gift membership for a friend.
3. Purchase Equipment Check out the TSA's Wish List on amazon.com to purchase equipment and supplies
that are needed by our staff at the Turtle Survival Center and in the field.
4. Shop at turtlesurvival.org Visit the TSA's online store to purchase t-shirts, art, publications and other
merchandise to support conservation projects around the world.
5. Volunteer Visit the TSA website for volunteer opportunities.
6. Support the TSA at No Extra Cost to You There are several programs available through which you can

support the TSA's mission by doing what you do every day!

Amazon.com Access amazon.com via the TSA link (http://bit.ly/tsa_amazon) and a portion of your

purchase will be donated to turtle conservation!

eBay The TSA is part of the eBay Giving Works program. So, you can support our mission when you
buy and sell on eBay.

Good Search What if the TSA earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or how

about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? It can, with

Good Search! www.goodsearch.com/nonprofit/turtle-survival-alliance
There are many ways that YOU can contribute to turtle conservation and support the TSA's mission of
zero turtle extinctions. Visit turtlesurvival.org.
www.turtlesurvival.org/get-involved
PHOTO CREDIT: SHAILENDRA SINGH
www.turtlesurvival.org/get-involved
DONOR RECOGNITION
Thank you for
your support!
We wish to acknowledge the individuals and organizations who donated to support the
Turtle Survival Alliance between 1 November 2016 and 31 October 2017.
$100,000 +
Fagus Foundation
Gregory Family Charitable Fund
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley
Charitable Trust
Alan & Patricia Koval Foundation
$50,000 to $99,999
Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund
Utah's Hogle Zoo
$25,000 to $49,999
Dennler Family Fund of the Toledo
Community Foundation
Fort Worth Zoo
Houston Zoo
Arthur L. and Elaine V. Johnson Foundation
National Geographic
Ocean Park Conservation Foundation,
Hong Kong
Oklahoma City Zoo & Botanical Garden
$10,000 to $24,999
Aquarium Innovations
Columbus Zoo & Aquarium
Conservation International
Dallas Zoo
Detroit Zoological Institute
Felburn Foundation
Owen Griffiths /Francois Leguat Ltd
Jill M. Jollay Charitable Foundation
Nature's Own
Riverbanks Zoo & Garden
San Diego Zoo
Sedgwick County Zoo
Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc.

$5,000 to $9,999
Abilene Zoo



Australasian Society of Zoo Keeping
Deborah Behler
Brian Bolton

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Disney's Animal Kingdom
The Frankel Family Foundation
Eric Goode
William Holmstrom
John Iverson

Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens
Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Ed Neil Charitable Fund
David Shapiro
Saint Louis Zoo
The Tides Foundation
Turtle Conservancy
Virginia Zoo
Zoo Knoxville
$1,000 to $4,999
Anonymous
Albuquerque BioPark
AAZK Columbus Zoo Chapter
AAZK Detroit Zoo
AAZK Galveston Chapter
AAZK Tampa Bay
Audubon Zoo
BREC's Baton Rouge Zoo
Berkeley Electric Trust
Jim Breheny
Brookfield Zoo
Chelonian Research Foundation/
Anders Rhodin
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
The County Line on the Lake, Inc.
Robin De Bled
Jim and Eileen De Vries
Desert Tortoise Council/Kristin Berry
Dickerson Park Zoo
Disney Matching Gifts
Disney VoluntEARS to You
Susie Ellis
Fresno Chaffee Zoo
Friends of Wekiva River, Inc.
Paul Gibbons
Global Wildlife Conservation
Traci Hartsell
IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle

Specialist Group
J.E. Johnson
Nancy Karraker
Robert Krause
Harold and Carol Leupp Foundation
Little Rock Zoo
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
George Meyer
Moody Gardens
DECEMBER 2017 TURTLE SURVIVAL
68
Acadian Wholesale Supply
Jay & Jane Allen
Orlando Alvarez
AppRiver
Nick Badham

Brian Beck
Berkeley Electric Cooperative
Berlin's Restaurant Supply
Cambro Manufacturing
Centrex Plastics
Crescent Garden
Crossroads Signs
E. L. Mustee & Sons
Mary Lou Googe Flanagan

Melissa Foote & Bill Edwards
Franklin Electric Co., Inc.
Goose Creek Farmers Market
Debra Hane
Gail Henrickson
Roy Herpolsheimer
Jerry Hurd
Steven Ives
Leveler's Foundation
Limehouse Produce
Lucas Tree Experts
Will and Jessica McGuire
John D. & Cissie Mitchell
Mepkin Abbey
Rachel Nusz
Radio Communications of Charleston, Inc.
Remarket Medical
Santee Cooper
South Carolina Aquarium
Mike Slade

Southern Concrete and Finishing Inc.
Nancy Stewart
Stoneridge Art Studios/Matt Patterson
Sunlight Supply
Tree Pro
Turtle Eye Productions/Mark Muhich
Virginia Zoological Park
Wally Walquist
Woodland Park Zoo
WREN Consulting
Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc.
While space limits us from listing all of our donors, we are grateful for every gift that makes our work possible. We
gratefully acknowledge our donors for their support and generosity.
Every effort has been made to accurately recognize our donors. If any errors have occurred, please accept our sincere
apology and contact our office at (843) 724-9763 with any corrections.
In Kind Giving
Terri Morrison
National Zoological Park
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium
Ty Park
Phoenix Zoo
Anders Rhodin
Rio Grande Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
SK Foundation/William Cato
Frank & Kate Slavens

Brett & Nancy Stearns
James & Barbara Stewart
Stuart Salenger Foundation, Inc.
Taesoon Park
Taipei Zoo
Ron Tremper
Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group
Turtle Conservation Fund
Peter Paul Van Dijk
Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center
Bruce Weber
Wildlife Conservation Society
Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium
Woodland Park Zoo
Diane Yoshimi
A PUBLICATION OF THE TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE TURTLESURVIVAL.ORG 69
Arakan Forest Turtle (Heosemys depressa). The TSA and our conservation
partners in Bangladesh and Myanmar work to protect native chelonian
species, including the Arakan Forest Turtle, and their habitats in the region.
Assurance colonies for this rare species are maintained at the Turtle Survival
Center in South Carolina, the Creative Conservation Alliance's new breeding
facility in Bangladesh's Bhawal National Park, and the TSA/WCS managed
facility at the Rahkine Yoma Elephant Sanctuary in Gwa, Myanmar.

PHOTO CREDIT: STEVEN IVES