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About the Program

Palawan Forest Turtle

STATUS

Ongoing / Partner Program

Region

Philippines

Protected Species

Palawan Forest Turtle

Siebenrockiella leytensis

Critically Endangered

Amboina box turtle

Cuora amboinensis

Endangered

About the Program

The Turtle Conservancy supports German biologist Sabine Schoppe of the Katala Foundation Inc. (KFI). She is working with the Endangered Palawan Forest Turtle (Siebenrockiella leytensis), only recently rediscovered in the wild and restricted to a very small natural range in remote southern Philippines. The Palawan Forest Turtle depends on a specific habitat: streams in lowland peat swamp forest. For more than 80 years, its true geographic distribution in the Philippines remained a mystery—until a chance discovery of one specimen in a Palawan market in the late 1980s, and then the rediscovery of wild populations in 2004.

To support infrastructures of Katala Foundation, land management, and community projects

Fundraising Goal: $50,000

To support operation of the breeding facility

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To support infrastructures of Katala Foundation, land management, and community projects
Major threats

Unfortunately, that rediscovery of the Palawan Forest Turtle spurred a collecting frenzy to supply illegal wildlife trade for pets and food, culminating in the 2015 confiscation of 4,124 turtles in a single warehouse. Among them, 3,907 turtles represented a large portion of the estimated total adult population of the species. Though the species is legally protected under Philippine law, a lack of habitat reserves and parks protecting the species has facilitated the illegal trapping of the Palawan Forest Turtle for the blackmarket pet trade, traditional medicine, and food. Also, almost all lowland swamp forest has been logged and converted into rice paddy fields, with little peat swamp forest remaining intact in Palawan.

Southwestern Pond Turtle

Local releasing turtles

Southwestern Pond Turtle
Southwestern Pond Turtle

A young Palawan Forest Turtle (Siebenrockiella leytensis)

How we protect the species

Another large component of the Turtle Conservancy’s project is the management of confiscated animals. In June 2015, 3,831 critically endangered Palawan Forest Turtles were confiscated from a smuggling ring on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. The turtles were poached and were en route to pet markets in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and possibly Europe. Our team flew to Palawan to help with the international rescue effort and proudly announced that most of the turtles were able to be released.

The Katala Foundation is monitoring release sites to assess how the turtles are surviving. Daily, multiple wildlife officers survey sites to monitor the turtles, with the program also working on improving the living conditions of the local community, while training them in nature conservation.

Red-Footed Tortoise

Partners


Katala Foundation
Rewild
Andrew Sabin Family Foundation
Rainforest Trust