Illegally trafficked box turtles need a home – One Green Planet

Returning seized animals to the wild is rarely an option due to uncertainties about their origins and potential disease risks. Tamesha Wulard, a 36-year FWS veteran, highlighted the ongoing challenge of managing confiscated live animals. “What happens once they get here?” » she asked, revealing a critical gap in wildlife management in response to the discovery of about 40 box turtles a week ago at an international mail center in Los Angeles, en route to the 'Asia.

In response to this dilemma, the FWS and the Association for Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) launched a pilot project in Southern California last year, aimed at addressing the care and placement of confiscated wildlife. With global wildlife trafficking increasing, the initiative is expected to expand nationally. “We are responding to a crisis,” said Sara Walker, AZA's senior advisor on wildlife trafficking. However, she stressed that while the program helps manage the consequences of crises, it does not address the root cause: demand.

Wildlife trafficking is a lucrative and widespread criminal activity, valued at between $7 billion and $23 billion annually. A UN report has found that more than 4,000 species are trafficked worldwide, leading to serious environmental and societal consequences. Moody's Analytics found a 150% increase in wildlife trafficking between 2018 and 2021.

In the United States, nearly 50,000 live plants and animals were seized or abandoned between 2015 and 2019, a figure that has likely increased since then. “E-commerce has exploded, and there are people making pets out of animals that have never been pets before,” Wulard said, noting the growing variety of species being sold. traffic, from skunks to ants. Although some illegal trade is the result of ignorance, with pet enthusiasts unknowingly purchasing illegal specimens, the FWS aims to intercept and manage these activities. In their Torrance office, facilities include tanks for seized marine life and rooms for other wildlife, like box turtles.

Since the creation of the Wildlife Confiscations Network, it has facilitated the placement of more than 1,300 animals in zoos, aquariums and conservancies across Southern California. Despite this success, the need for space remains urgent. “We are running out of space,” Walker admitted, predicting that euthanasia could become a last resort. Network expansion plans aim to create a national framework, even if the initiative remains reactive. For Los Angeles' box turtles, their future home could be the Turtle Conservancy in Ojai, California, which has taken in about 500 confiscated turtles since 2017.

James Liu, director of the reserve, highlighted the increase in trafficking of American turtles as part of a broader trend driven by increasing wealth in Asia and economic challenges in the United States after COVID-19 . This perfect storm has made American tortoises high-value targets for poaching. In the conservatory's quarantine room, new arrivals, such as recently seized box turtles, undergo health examinations and recover. “It's a quarantine, but in reality it's an evidence storage place,” Liu remarked, pointing to the living evidence of the current trafficking crisis.

Ahisma T-shirt by Tiny Rescue: Animal Collection

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