Ocean Sentry
(From tampabay.com)- A rising demand in China for turtles for food and medicine has led to the round-up of thousands of turtles from Florida”s lakes, ponds and canals. “Asian countries are causing the extinction, the near extinction or the endangerment of every species of turtle they have over there, so now they”re turning to the United States to supply their insatiable demand for turtle,” said Matt Aresco, a turtle biologist from the Panhandle.
The trend — which biologists worry threatens species survival — has surfaced at places like Newnan’s Lake near Gainesville. Other states — Alabama and Texas, among others — have recently restricted or banned the harvest of turtles. As those states have cut off access, the harvesters have focused more and more on Florida’s turtles, Aresco said.
The harvesters target the larger turtles, the ones old enough to reproduce, Aresco said. Wipe out those and soon all the turtles will be gone.
(By Craig Pittman)
