Over 10% of a single tortoise species' population found in smuggler's bag

Source: The Guardian

Over 10% of a single tortoise species' population found in smuggler's bag

Jeremy Hance for for Mongabay, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 March 2013 15.24 GMT

On 15 March, Thai authorities arrested a 38-year-old man attempting to collect a bag containing 54 ploughshare tortoises (Astrochelys yniphora) and 21 radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Found only in Madagascar, both species are listed as Critically Endangered and protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), but have become lucrative targets for the black-market pet trade given their scarcity and beauty.

"The criminals behind this shipment of ploughshare tortoises have effectively stolen over 10% of the estimated population in the wild," says Chris Shepherd with TRAFFIC. Experts currently estimate that only 400 ploughshare tortoises in the wild; 54 stolen tortoises accounts for around 13 percent.

Meanwhile, the radiated tortoise once numbered in the millions. But collection for the pet trade, habitat loss, and local hunting has decimated its population. Scientists now say that without targeted conservation work the species could go extinct by mid-century.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/25/tortoise-species-population-smugglers-bag