www.turtlesurvival.org JULY 2005 Publication supported by: Preserving Options for the Recovery of Wild Populations TURTLETURTLE SURVIVALSURVIVAL ALLIANCEALLIANCE An IUCN Partnership Network for Sustainable Captive Management of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises The future for Pan’s box turtle (Cuora pani) got a little brighter when two TSA partner institu- tions, Zoo Atlanta and Riverbanks Zoo, successfully hatched this poorly known Chinese endemic in 2004. Shown here is the Riverbanks Zoo specimen at nearly one year of age. The mission of TSA is to develop and maintain an inclusive, broad-based global network of collections of living tortoises and freshwater turtles with the primary goal of maintaining chelonian species over the long term to provide maximum future options for the recovery of wild populations. TURTLE SURVIVAL From the TSA Co-Chairs... ALLIANCE BOARD Dear TSA Supporter: Welcome to the fi fth Turtle Survival Alliance Newsletter. This has been an exciting and productive Rick Hudson Co-Chair Executive Committee year and while there is much work to be done, we have many accomplishments to celebrate. We TSA US Co-Chair write this amidst the preparation and planning leading up to the third annual TSA conference that will be held in San Diego in July. Program Chair Chuck Schaffer and others have assembled Dwight Lawson a dynamic panel of speakers, and this promises to be a great meeting. The TSA conference Co-Chair Executive Committee continues to grow and is becoming an important gathering of turtle biologists, enthusiasts and TSA US Co-Chair conservationists, and we anticipate that the meeting will expand in scope in the coming years. Chris Banks The most exciting development of 2005 has been the $100,000 grant to the TSA from the Batchelor Executive Committee Foundation. These funds will support much needed range-country turtle conservation programs TSA Australia (see article). We are particularly grateful to Bill Zeigler for cultivating the relationship with the Batchelor Foundation, one we hope to grow over the coming years for the long-term benefi t of Kevin Buley turtles. Executive Committee TSA Europe Vice-Chair In preparation for administering this grant and to ensure funds are responsibly and effectively Hans Dieter Philippen directed, we recently visited several turtle facilities in Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar in Executive Committee conjunction with this year’s TSA sponsored Turtle Husbandry and Veterinary Workshop in TSA Europe Vice-Chair Hong Kong. There we reviewed funding priorities, discussed budgets and contract terms and generally familiarized ourselves with the operations. We are happy to report that as our global Hank Zwartepoorte network expands, the TSA name is becoming more visible, more recognizable and more respected. Executive Committee Increasingly, the TSA is becoming known as a driving force for turtle conservation around the TSA Europe Chair world. John Behler The global situation for turtles remains dire, but it is with extremely guarded optimism that Ex-offi cio Executive Committee IUCN TFTSG Co-chair we relate reports that the “complexion” of the turtle markets in China appears to be changing. Observers are noticing a shift towards farm-raised turtles. Still troubling however is the number Anders Rhodin of forest turtles that continue to be offered in signifi cant numbers in the pet markets. Of particular Ex-offi cio Executive Committee concern are species such as Geoemyda spengleri, Pyxidea mouhoti and to a lesser extent, Cuora IUCN TFTSG Co-chair galbinifrons. The turtle crisis in Asia is entering a new phase, where we need to determine what, if anything, is left of priority taxa in the fi eld, and “get a handle” on lower profi le species that have not been accorded much attention and could be in danger of falling through the cracks. U.S. Steering As the picture from the fi eld emerges in the coming years, the assurance colonies established in the Committee recent past become ever more important. On another cautiously optimistic note, we can report that Kurt Buhlmann signifi cant captive conservation action is underway for a number of the 18 critically endangered Mike Forstner Asian turtle species listed in 2000. Internationally networked programs for Batagur baska, Chitra chitra, Mauremys annamensis, Kachuga kachuga, Heosemys depressa and Geochelone Greg George platynota are making headway and are positioned to positively impact the survival of those species Lisa Lowell in the near future. Two species from the 2000 Red List – Heosemys leytensis and Aspideretes Lonnie McCaskill nigricans – have been rediscovered in recent years. Rumors of the persistence of Rafetus swinhoei Bill Ninesling in Vietnam will hopefully be verifi ed soon. Problematic still are the Chinese endemic Cuora, C. Hugh Quinn galbinifrons, Callagur and the Indonesian endemics, Leucocephalon yuwonoi, Indotestudo Paul vander Schouw forsteni and Chelodina mccordi. For these species, TSA will continue to pursue the development Darrell Senneke of well-managed captive populations, and leverage the range-country training components of the Brett Stearns Batchelor funds to investigate their status and promote their conservation. Chris Tabaka Susan Tiedemann While this newsletter reviews the latest achievements and conservation victories, remember the status of many turtle species around the world and at home remains tenuous. Your continued support is critical to the TSA and vital in our combined efforts to assure a future for turtles. Bill Zeigler TMG Facilitator Rick Hudson and Dwight Lawson Co-Chairs, Turtle Survival Alliance 1 TSA Announces $100,000 Gift he Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) recently announced cilities in the re- a signifi cant grant - $100,000 - from The Batchelor gion has clearly TFoundation. This grant represents the largest single identifi ed a donation that the TSA has received in its four-and-a-half need for tech- year history and will allow the organization to vastly expand nical support the scope of its work, particularly in Southeast Asia. These designed to im- funds are specifi cally earmarked for range country turtle prove the qual- conservation initiatives and will focus on capacity building. ity of captive This generous gift will allow TSA to boost their support to husbandry and some existing programs in India, Malaysia, Myanmar and veterinary care Vietnam, while providing new funding to programs in Thai- of the turtles in land, Indonesia and southern Mexico. This grant will also those facilities. fund student participation in the heralded Asian Scholarship E x p e r i e n c e d Program, bringing aspiring turtle biologists to the U.S. for a veterinarians summer of training on a wide range of turtle conservation and experts techniques. from TSA will work with local counterparts to improve health care protocols, hatching suc- cess, husband- Dr. Wachira Kitimasak holds a captive ry methods, hatched Siamese narrow-headed softshell and manage- turtle at the Kanchaniburi Inland Fisheries ment of captive Center in Thailand. More than 500 of this populations at IUCN critically endangered species have some of these been hatched here though mortality has been high. TSA funds will work to alleviate key facilities, this problem. furthering the aims of TSA in assisting range state partners in efforts to establish strong and well-run assurance populations of the most critically endangered turtle species within the region. A ranking of the fi ve most im- Male painted terrapin is caught as part of the sampling pro- portant Asian gram of the KUSTEM River Terrapin Research and Conserva- countries for tion Project at the Setiu River, Terengganu, Malaysia. Shown turtle conser- here are Mat, a local fi sherman employed by the project, Dr. vation listed, Chan Eng Heng, the project leader and Doug Hendrie, Asian in descending turtle coordinator. (Photo by Victor K.K. Ng) order: China, Myanmar, Viet- nam, Indonesia To help generate interest and expertise in turtle conserva- and India. The tion in the region, funds for an Asian Turtle Action Grant newly awarded Dr. Shannon Ferrell (Fort Worth Zoo) program will match $10,000 from the Wildlife Conservation TSA grant will treats a female red-crowned roofed Society. These seed grants will help fund small local proj- engage us in four turtle at the Kukrail Gharial Center in ects that are carried out by range state nationals. To build of these coun- Lucknow, India. Expanding the level capacity and sustainability into range state management of tries and provide of turtle veterinary and husbandry ex- assurance populations, $10,000 is earmarked to address the direct conserva- pertise at targeted facilities in Asia is an critical need for training. An evaluation of existing turtle fa- tion action to important goal for the TSA. 2 over half (10 of 18) some of that of the Asian turtle country’s most species currently e n d a n g e r e d ranked Critically turtles, includ- Endangered (CR). ing the red- In Myanmar, we will crowned roofed support construction turtle (Kachuga of new facilities for k a c h u g a ) . the endemic Bur- Finally, break- mese roofed turtle ing out of the (Kachuga trivittata), Asian realm, recently rediscovered TSA will begin and now the subject working with of intensive captive two existing breeding efforts at turtles farms the zoo in Mandalay. in southern Captive breeding pro- Mexico that are grams for Burmese managing large The Cuc Phuong Turtle Conservation Cen- ter (TCC) in Vietnam will get a new visi- Better days are in store for the only star tortoises (Geo- numbers of tor interpretive center with the Batchelor captive group of the rare Burmese chelone platynota) Central Ameri- Foundation funds. Increasing local aware- roofed turtle at the Yadanabon Zoo will also benefi t. In can river turtles ness for the plight of native turtles is an in Mandalay. The Batchelor founda- Vietnam, support for (Dermatemys) important mission of the TCC.