Hundreds of turtles across the U.S. are being ripped from the wild and stuffed into socks, diapers, or boxes labeled “toys” – all to fuel a cruel international trade. Recently, a smuggler in Brooklyn pleaded guilty after attempting to ship 850 turtles worth $1.4 million to Hong Kong. Many of these animals were Eastern box […]
Tag: turtles
How Close Are Manatees to Extinction?
The Indian River Lagoon, a long braid of brackish mangroves and shifting islands, runs along Florida’s Atlantic coast. It is home to 4,300 species, including many of the state’s remaining manatees, whose large, paddle-tailed bodies graze slowly through the shallows. For decades, the lagoon has also been a destination for Florida’s municipal sewage. State law […]
Man caught smuggling 850 rare turtles worth more than $1 million in socks
A man has admitted that he attempted to smuggle over $1 million worth of protected turtles from the US to Hong Kong by packing them in cartons marked “plastic animal toys.” Wei Qiang Lin, a Chinese national who lives in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in New York to attempting to export more […]
Fox Rescuer Mikayla Raines Remembered for Saving Thousands of Lives
Mikayla Raines, founder of Save a Fox Rescue and a social media star known for her deep bond with foxes, has died at 30. According to The New York Times’ Jeré Longman, Raines passed away at her home in Faribault, Minnesota, on June 20. Her husband, Ethan Frankcamp, confirmed the cause was suicide, following ongoing […]
Petition: Justice for Turtles Thrown to Their Deaths in Hong Kong – Demand Action Now
At around 6:40am, a passerby saw something curious on a sidewalk in Hong Kong. It looked like it was the body of an adult turtle – but it had clearly been through something heinous. The poor animal’s shell was shattered and it was lying in a pool of its own blood. But, even worse, this […]
Report links meat giant JBS to massive destruction of jaguar habitat
Agricultural expansion in two Brazilian states has cleared a U.K -sized area of jaguar habitat, nearly a fifth of which occurred in the last decade alone, a new report shows. About 27 million hectares (67 million acres) of wild jaguar habitat have been lost as of 2023 in the Amazonian states of Pará and Mato […]
Removal of Invasive Bullfrogs Leads to Increase of Native Pond Turtles in Yosemite, Study Finds
By reversing a takeover by non-native species, native species have a chance at recovery in their natural habitats, according to a new study led by scientists from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). The study, published in the journal Biological Conservation, explored how removing invasive bullfrogs could affect the native western pond turtles, which […]
Over 1,100 dead olive ridley turtles wash ashore in southern India
More than 1,100 dead olive ridley turtles have washed ashore on the beaches of Tamil Nadu state in southern India this month. Most were found near the state capital, Chennai. “I never heard [of] such large numbers of turtles stranded at any beaches of Tamil Nadu at least in the last three decades,” K. Sivakumar, […]