Thursday 15 May 2014

500 tortoises saved from pet trade in Madagascar



The critically-endangered ploughshare tortoise
More than 500 tortoises have been confiscated at Ivato airport in Antananarivo, Madagascar prior to being loaded on a Kenya Aiways flight to Nairobi. The shipment included 512 radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) and nine ploughshare tortoises (Astrochelys yniphora), all of which have been placed with the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) for initial care and safe keeping.

The critically-endangered ploughshare tortoises (it is estimated that there are just 200 mature tortoises left in the wild) continue to be targeted by wildlife smugglers and it is expected they will be extinct within 10 years.



No comments:

Post a Comment

You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

ShareThis