Turtles in demand as pets, leading to a spike in ‘ruthless’ poaching – calls for tighter regulation

Swimming in two plastic bins inside a brightly lit and sterile quarantine room at a zoo on Rhode Island in the US, 16 quarter-sized turtle hatchlings represent a growing worry for conservationists.

These eastern musk turtles, known for spending much of their lives in swamps and ponds and emitting a foul smell when threatened, were confiscated recently in a wildlife bust. And, though the reptiles are common, their illegal sale on the internet greatly concerns Lou Perrotti, who directs conservation programmes at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence.

“We are seeing an uptick in turtle poaching,” he said. “It’s getting ruthless where we are seeing thousands of turtles leaving the United States on an annual basis. … Turtle populations cannot take that kind of a hit with that much removal coming out of the wild.”

Wildlife trade experts believe that poaching – driven by growing demand for pets in the US, Asia and Europe – is contributing to the global decline of rare freshwater turtle and tortoise species. One study found over half of the 360 living turtle and tortoise species are at risk of extinction.

Such concerns have prompted a dozen proposals to increase protection for freshwater turtles at the 184-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Panama November 14 to November 25.

Precise figures on the turtle trade, especially illegal trade, can be hard to find. Based on US Fish and Wildlife Service data, Tara Easter, a University of Michigan doctoral candidate who studies the trade, estimated the commercial export trade for mud turtles in the United States increased from 1,844 in 1999 to nearly 40,000 in 2017 and musk turtles from 8,254 in 1999 to more than 281,000 in 2016.