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    Rare, once-royal turtle to be tracked in Cambodia

    Associated Press – Sat, Jan 21, 2012

    BANGKOK (AP) — One of the world's most endangered turtles has been released into a Cambodian river with a satellite transmitter attached to its shell to track how it will navigate through commercial fishing grounds and other man-made hazards.

    The 75-pound (34-kilogram) southern river terrapin — one of only about 200 adults remaining in the wild — waddled into the Sre Ambel river in southwestern Cambodia this past week to the cheers of local residents and conservationists.

    The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said the female terrapin was given to the group last year instead of being sold to traffickers who have decimated the country's population of turtles and other species to cater to demand for exotic wildlife in China.

    The southern river terrapin, once considered the sole property of Cambodia's kings, only survives in the wilds of Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia, the group said in a statement. The population in the Sre Ambel river is estimated at less than 10 nesting females.

    But it said the terrapins there have an excellent chance of recovery because coastal mangrove forests in the region are among the largest and most pristine in Southeast Asia, spanning some 175 square miles (45,000 hectares).

    The first-ever satellite monitoring of the species hopes to determine how the turtle will fare among fisherman as well as in areas threatened by sand mining and conversion of mangrove forests into shrimp farms.

    A small population of the species was found in 2000 in Sre Ambel after being considered locally extinct for many years.

    Following the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge in the mid-1970s which left the country devastated, poor rural dwellers scoured the forests for wildlife, much of which was sold to traders connected to China, where many wild animals — from turtles to tigers — are believed to possess medicinal and sex-enhancing properties.

    The turtle project is being run by the Wildlife Conservation Society in cooperation with the Cambodian government and Wildlife Reserves Singapore, a zoological enterprise.

     

    68 comments

    • thom234
      thom234  •  Surfside, California  •  4 mths ago
      The turtle would be better off if they strapped a machine gun on its back.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  4 mths ago
      Somebody will kill and eat the poor creature yet.
    • O0o0O
      O0o0O  •  4 mths ago
      Haha couldn't they build something better than that huge piece of crap they glued to his back?
    • Yasmin Diaz
      Yasmin Diaz  •  Denver, Colorado  •  4 mths ago
      Hope These Turtles Last!
    • JJMurray
      JJMurray  •  4 mths ago
      Sure, only 10 nesting families and you put this thing on its back? You really think any of the female turtles are going to give him the time of day now?
      • phillythekid
        phillythekid 4 mths ago
        ..the turtle they released was a female..
      • JJMurray
        JJMurray 4 mths ago
        Okay - so you think any of the males will give her the time of day with that thing on her back?
        Some people need to work on their sense of humor.
    • Stahlhelm
      Stahlhelm  •  San Francisco, California  •  4 mths ago
      The only thing with four legs that the Chinese WON'T eat is a table...good luck to the turtles and all other endangered species that the Chinese eat for "medicinal" purposes
      • S.
        S. 4 mths ago
        you do know that not everyone has a McDonalds just down the street from their house don't you?
      • Stahlhelm
        Stahlhelm 4 mths ago
        Yeah, I know that Einstein...and I have been to Cambodia 4 times doing volunteer work with vaccinations in rural communities, so don't preach to me about effing McDonalds...the Cambodian people don't eat these turtles, they SELL them to Chinese merchants who sell the shells to be ground up and used as Chinese Viagra to rich upper class Chinese.
      • Joshua
        Joshua 4 mths ago
        yes, cause cambodia is part of china... geography much?
    • Ragman
      Ragman  •  4 mths ago
      Turtles breed readily in captivity...why not do something like that instead of hoping that some idiot doesn't catch them and eat them? We are talkin Cambodia, right?
    • John
      John  •  Boca Raton, Florida  •  4 mths ago
      People are so naive and greedy.
    • Karl
      Karl  •  Norton, Virginia  •  4 mths ago
      For the Chinese apparently, everything is either a delicacy or an aphrodisiac. And people think that they are not a third world culture.
    • TreP
      TreP  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      I like turtles
    • wow
      wow  •  4 mths ago
      For American turtle soups again?
    • Tunder
      Tunder  •  4 mths ago
      That turtle is about as safe as a black dog in a chinese life boat....
    • truth
      truth  •  4 mths ago
      It's simply a matter of time before any and every creature we can get our hand's upon will be gone ...what a shame no one cares .
    • Just Sayin
      Just Sayin  •  4 mths ago
      The only turtles left are the ones that have not been eaten yet.
    • bobby-o
      bobby-o  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      Cannot believe they attached a transmitter to an endangered species. The poor thing will probably get caught underwater on a fallen branch and die. Seems to me it's more so endangered since it encountered conservationists.
    • GOLDENEYE
      GOLDENEYE  •  Nixa, Missouri  •  4 mths ago
      old news
    • Guan Yu
      Guan Yu  •  4 mths ago
      and people here in america don't eat turtles?
    • S.
      S.  •  4 mths ago
      you "humanitarians" are really something else.
      not everyone in the world lives down the street from a Burger King.

      72% of the world goes to bed hungry every night & most of you animal lovers throw away more food in a couple of days than some third world families will actually eat in a month
    • wow
      wow  •  4 mths ago
      Does the Turtle soup from French quarters in New Orleans use the turtle? It tastes great!
    • Radstorm
      Radstorm  •  Indianapolis, Indiana  •  4 mths ago
      Royal? Well I knew there was a King Tut, but sure didn't know there was a King Turtle too :O
     Post a comment
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