Endangered box turtles die in crates

Damn Chinese superstitions about foods. Everytime I read a story like this it makes me livid. Everything to them is either an aphrodisiac or makes you live longer, and there isn't the slightest shred of regard for the endangered species they're driving to extinction. Bear gall bladders, rhino horns, shark fins, asian turtles and snakes, the ones that aren't being decimated from loss of habitat, the Chinese are eating. If it was basic sustanence then that would be one thing, but they're not eating turtles and rhino horns out of starvation.

Singapore (dpa) - Only 70 South Asian box turtles out of an illegal shipment of 2,500 of the endangered reptiles were still alive Wednesday without any sign of when they will be returned to Indonesia, Singapore wildlife officials said.

Bobby Lee, a senior wildlife enforcement officer with the Agri- Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), and his colleagues have been feeding the turtles cabbage and hosing them with water in a desperate bid to keep them alive.

It was not known how long the turtles had been stacked onto one another in 72 crates when they arrived in Singapore from Sumatra.

Seized by authorities on June 13, the reptiles can be traded only with a permit issued by the country of origin. The turtles were brought in with 2,900 non-protected turtles for shippers had valid documents.

It was believed that the shipment was headed for cooking pots in Hong Kong.

Many of the turtles were already dead, and the survivors were showing signs of stress when they were seized, Lee told The Straits Times.

The turtles could not be sent back immediately because the ship's captain had been arrested for smuggling. The AVA "did the best we could under the circumstances," Lee was quoted as saying.

The captain has been jailed for five months and fined 20,000 Singapore dollars (12,820 US dollars).

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Here's another story concerning the same issue involving sea turtles.

Coast guard finds 100 turtles aboard Chinese boat

PHILIPPINE Coast Guard (PCG) operatives found 100 dead sea turtles aboard a Chinese fishing vessel apprehended off Palawan on Saturday for allegedly poaching in Philippine waters.

A PCG report said the Chinese wooden-hulled vessel manned by eight crewmembers was caught 33 nautical miles southeast of Mangsee Island in Palawan ferrying sea turtles, considered endangered species and are not supposed to be caught or traded under the country's fisheries code.

The trade of such animals is also prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna, to which the Philippines is a signatory.

Aside from the 100 dead big sea turtles, the PCG also found two live sharks aboard the vessel.

The vessel was spotted by a PCG-manned Monitoring Control and Surveillance vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, which is used to guard against illegal fishing and poaching.

The guard operatives led by Captain George Ursabia chased the Chinese vessel after it tried to escape toward the boundary of Philippines and Malaysia.

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Out of those last few that are alive, but not doing that well, I am sure that the cabbage the turtles are being fed will provide them with all the proper nutrients needed to survive this close encounter with death.

But boy are they working hard to save the panda...... I think our zoo committed to something like $5 million for a pair. Any offspring go back to China and so do mom and dad in another 13 years.

That is the deal they made with the San Diego Zoo. Even better, they supply a list of "authorized" names for the new born pandas and they have to be named from that list, no exceptions. When the babies are 100 days old, then the panda can be named, but no sooner.