Thanks to your generous support, the Turtle Conservancy in the past year has been able to continue our important work around the globe in securing a future for many endangered turtles and tortoises.
Here are some of our successes over the past year:
Geometric Tortoise — South Africa
We added another 60 acres of critical habitat to our ever-growing South African geometric tortoise preserve, now arguably the last stronghold for this critically endangered species. Along with continued land assemblage, we’ve taken aggressive steps to eradicate invasive acacia and other non-native plants and to restore the native fynbos vegetation.
Palawan Forest Turtle — Philippines
The Turtle Conservancy has helped create a 7,000-acre riparian habitat for the critically endangered Palawan forest turtle. This effort has been led by the Katala Foundation with support from the Rainforest Trust and Turtle Conservancy.
Ploughshare Tortoise — Madagascar
In collaboration with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Government of Madagascar, the Turtle Conservancy is working to save the most critically endangered tortoise in the world, the Ploughshare tortoise, by implementing the security necessary to protect the last remaining wild populations. Additionally we are creating a second in-country captive population to act as an insurance policy for the species.
Radiated Tortoise Rescue — Madagascar
In the spring of 2018, a veterinary and engineering team from the Turtle Conservancy rushed to Madagascar to assist in the rescue and rehabilitation of approximately 10,000 radiated tortoises that had been illegally captured and incarcerated in a crumbling building in the city of Tuléar in southern Madagascar. The surviving confiscated animals were treated medically and new, secure enclosures were built to manage the population. This massive rescue effort was an international collaboration between zoos, conservation organizations and private foundations.
Bolson Tortoise — New Mexico
Our partnership with the Turner Endangered Species Fund in New Mexico produced an outstanding number of Bolson tortoises, expanding the U.S. population from 30 adult animals in 2006 to over 600 today. 2018 proved to be a very productive year, with 83 hatchlings to date.
Northern Diamondback Terrapin — New Jersey
We partner with the Terrapin Nesting Project to restore populations on Long Beach Island, NJ and in Leeds Point, NJ of the Northern diamondback terrapin (native to the Northeast). Volunteers protect the terrapins’ nests on the island, and help expectant terrapin moms to safely cross roads to lay their eggs in their nesting sites. Over 3,500 baby terrapins have now been released into the bay.
Bolson Tortoise — Mexico
We are in contract to purchase 20,000 acres of additional habitat for the critically endangered Bolson’s tortoise in North Central Mexico. This will bring our protected area for the Bolson tortoise and other wildlife to over 60,000 acres. Our purchase of Rancho San Ignacio (43,000) in 2016 was the second largest single land purchase for conservation in Mexico’s history. The work of Turtle Conservancy scientists led to the up-listing of the Bolson tortoise’s IUCN Red List status to Critically Endangered.
Conservation Center — California
2018 began with a major upgrade of our turtle and tortoise infrastructure. We completed a major renovation of our Asian turtle complex, which includes a temperate greenhouse for species like the Okinawa leaf turtle, Black-breasted leaf turtle and Impressed tortoise, and a tropical greenhouse for species including Sulawesi forest turtles, Burmese star tortoises, Palawan forest turtles, Arakan forest turtles. Our captive breeding program continues to be successful, with 149 critically endangered hatchlings produced this year alone. We also created a new nursery system to better accommodate our ever growing productivity.
100% OF DONATIONS FUND PROGRAMS.
The Turtle Conservancy protects more wild lands for critically endangered turtles and tortoises than any other conservation organization.
We could not do this important work without you.
Sincerely,
Eric Goode
President & CEO