Featured Image Credit: Dreef Atsimo Andrefana
On the 10th of April, the Turtle Survival Alliance rescued about eleven thousand endangered radiated tortoises from a residence in Toliara, Madagascar. The Turtle Survival Alliance is a global partnership of individuals, zoos, aquariums, biologist, and researchers who have come together to help the threatened tortoise and turtle species.
The rescued tortoises have been transferred temporarily to a secure medical facility, Villages de Tortues, where the animals receive initial health evaluations and care. Within the first two days of receiving the medical care they needed, hundreds of the tortoises’ conditions passed the ability to be able to recover and they died from dehydration, malnutrition, and/or illness. As of the 12th of April, only 9,760 tortoises remained alive, but still in need of immediate help.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums had over twenty institutions send medical supplies, individuals, or funding to care for the sick and injured tortoises. On the 23 of April, the first team of responders arrived. Many of the tortoises are in good health but in need of food and water. However, these responders are treating over one thousand tortoises with various conditions from severe to mild. As well as treating, they are also still working on the initial analysis of many of the tortoises to determine their standing. Numerous of the deceased animals have been sent to the onsite veterinarians for necropsy to find the cause of death.
Madagascar’s tortoise population is threatened with extinction due to hunting for its meat and the illegal pet trade. These specific tortoises have been often collected illegally from the wild and shipped to other countries to be sold as pets due to having a uniquely high dome-shaped shell, covered with a star-like pattern. These animals were updated to “Critically Endangered” in 2008, meaning they are at a great rate of extinction.
This is the largest rescue of tortoises or freshwater turtles in the history of the Turtle Survival Alliance, and the president and CEO of the company believe these animals were going to be sold into the illegal pet trade.