Conservation of freshwater turtles in Hong Kong and SE China

[Noelluene]

This is an amazing video about the conservation of native freshwater turtles in my general region. One of the main threats to turtles in this part of the world is illegal trapping and poaching, which I've also made a post here previously about this topic. Please like and share this video so that more people can be made aware of what is being done about the conservation of these turtles in this part of the world. Thankyou!

Personally, I have only seen a living big headed turtle once before and sadly it was being sold at a reptile shop as a wild caught specimen. Personally I don't think my local government has done enough to protect these animals. I have also worked with a local conservation group which is currently running a Beal's Four Eyed Turtle breeding programme, and I think that they are truly amazing to work with.

Hong Kong: The Last Frontier (香港的淡水龜 | Hong Kong's Freshwater Turtles)​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FNsOtd48VA
(There are english subtitles)

 

[Noelluene]

Personally, I have stopped buying anything from any pet shop that sells any turtle species as there is no way I can confirm that they were not wild caught or abused. In case that they are wild caught, I wouldn't want to give my money to them so that they can continue doing stuff like this.

It is also to note to many members here who are from foreign countries that a lot of wild turtles illegally caught in Asia are shipped and sold to North America and Europe. If you see these exotic species show up in your local pet shops and reptile expos please at least try your best to confirm that they are CB specimens. Our situation here is truly dire. Thankyou.

Here's another link for the video in case that one doesn't work. (idk why im bad with computers)

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Personally, I have stopped buying anything from any pet shop that sells any turtle species as there is no way I can confirm that they were not wild caught or abused. In case that they are wild caught, I wouldn't want to give my money to them so that they can continue doing stuff like this.

It is also to note to many members here who are from foreign countries that a lot of wild turtles illegally caught in Asia are shipped and sold to North America and Europe. If you see these exotic species show up in your local pet shops and reptile expos please at least try your best to confirm that they are CB specimens. Our situation here is truly dire. Thankyou.

Here's another link for the video in case that one doesn't work. (idk why im bad with computers)

Just finished watching. Was a beautiful video. It seemed to cover every aspect of what's going. The poaching, the pet trade, and people's beliefs in the turtles having medicinal properties. There are species of turtles covered I've never even seen. Like that gorgeous four eyed. And aslo the small impacts turtles have on the environment we overlook, such as stiring up the bottom to provide food for smaller organisms and being a food source themselves for other animals. I can't count the amount of times people claim to "rescue" a baby turtle because it is tiny and they fear it may be eaten, and I'm guilty as doing it as a kid, but it's a balanced ecosystem. It kind of saddens me as a keeper. We see these beautiful animals, but rather than admiring them and protecting them, we want to have them in our homes and backyards.Although I try to be an optimistic person, I just can't think of a solution to how we can stop these illegal trades. Of course law enforcement, and I suppose we need breeding of more captive animals, but education would be the most important. Like how they talked about res being introduced into the wild populations. People think they want a cute baby turtle then just let it go as it grows. Thanks for sharing this video I really enjoyed it.