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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/turtles/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 23:52:03 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Turtles</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/turtles/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Activists allege Cambodia has resumed sea sand exports to Singapore</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 08:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21082924/RESIZED-Photo-by-Drone-of-CMR-sand-barges-on-Trapang-Roung-river-2-July-202614-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324184</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ecosystems, Environment, extractives, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, International Trade, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Rivers, Saltwater Fish, Trade, and Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Environmental activism group Mother Nature Cambodia on July 14 posted a new video alleging that Cambodia has quietly resumed sand exports to Singapore after the trade was banned in 2017. The prohibition followed a scandal involving environmental degradation along Cambodian rivers linked to shipments of sand sold to Singapore for land reclamation projects. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Environmental activism group Mother Nature Cambodia on July 14 posted a new video alleging that Cambodia has quietly resumed sand exports to Singapore after the trade was banned in 2017. The prohibition followed a scandal involving environmental degradation along Cambodian rivers linked to shipments of sand sold to Singapore for land reclamation projects. In its latest video, Mother Nature Cambodia documented sand dredgers operating in waterways in Koh Kong province in Cambodia’s southwest, with footage appearing to show barges belonging to Catalyst Marine and Resources (Cambodia), a Singaporean-directed sand mining company that’s been registered in Cambodia since December 2024. Footage shows large-scale sand mining operations, including barges bearing the logo of Catalyst Marine and Resources, dredging sea sand from the coastal waterways of Koh Kong. Catalyst Marine and Resources’ barges were then tracked by Mother Nature Cambodia to two large cargo boats located just off the coast of Koh Kong Krao, Cambodia’s largest island, which is largely controlled by the Cambodian navy. Tracking devices on the cargo boats show those vessels are bound for Singapore, reigniting old fears that environmentally unsustainable sand dredging has resumed in Koh Kong to fuel land reclamation projects. “I have many questions, but today I will ask just one to Minister [of Mines and Energy] Keo Rattanak,” Lisa Mean, an activist with Mother Nature Cambodia, asks in the group’s latest video. “When did you quietly scrap the 2017 ban on sea sand exports?” Lisa then called on Cambodians to join the activist group&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How a community is helping sea turtles hatch in the Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-a-community-is-helping-sea-turtles-hatch-in-the-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-a-community-is-helping-sea-turtles-hatch-in-the-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 17:23:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rachel Duckett]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17164527/olive-ridley-hatchlings-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323904</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Herps, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Solutions, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Jerald Mahusay was a kid, he and his friends saw turtle eggs so often, they treated them like toys. “We were always playing with the eggs,” Mahusay recalled of his childhood in Santo Niño, a village in the Philippines’ Palawan province. “We didn’t know why they are important.” Mahusay’s relationship with turtles has changed. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Jerald Mahusay was a kid, he and his friends saw turtle eggs so often, they treated them like toys. “We were always playing with the eggs,” Mahusay recalled of his childhood in Santo Niño, a village in the Philippines’ Palawan province. “We didn’t know why they are important.” Mahusay’s relationship with turtles has changed. In 2023, he started working as a patroller for the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE), an NGO that conducts marine research around the country, including a turtle monitoring project in Palawan. This year, Mahusay was promoted to head of the local patrol unit and research assistant for LAMAVE’s turtle project. Santo Niño is located in San Vicente, an agriculture and fishing municipality that is a vital nesting ground for olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. However, nesting turtles here face a myriad of challenges. The most prevalent is a largely unchecked stray dog population, but higher tides and more frequent storms caused by climate change loom large, as do plans to develop the area for mass tourism. LAMAVE patrollers find a predated nest in Santo Niño, San Vicente, Palawan, April 2026. Image by Rachel Duckett for Mongabay. On patrol During peak nesting season, volunteers and local patrollers walk more than 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) in five shifts each night and early morning. When they find a turtle, they’ll wait for her to finish nesting, shooing away dogs when necessary. Before she re-enters the water,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-a-community-is-helping-sea-turtles-hatch-in-the-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-a-community-is-helping-sea-turtles-hatch-in-the-philippines/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323904</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil lists the Amazon river turtle as endangered for the first time</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazil-lists-the-amazon-river-turtle-as-endangered-for-the-first-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazil-lists-the-amazon-river-turtle-as-endangered-for-the-first-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2026 18:37:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/15173950/BANNER-n.-%C2%A9-Andres-Camilo-Montes-Correa-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323320</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Freshwater, Herps, Reptiles, Rivers, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A food staple and once a common sight, the Amazon turtle is now officially endangered as its population halves.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A traditional food source for Amazonian communities, freshwater turtles have been included in Brazil&#8217;s list of fauna threatened with extinction for the first time. The cágado-iaçá, or six-tubercled Amazon River turtle, had its risk elevated from near threatened to endangered in a new national list recently released by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Known in the Amazon as tracajás, freshwater turtles have been classified as nearly threatened for a long time, but it&#8217;s the first time that one of its species was classified as endangered, said Marília Marini, general coordinator of conservation strategies at ICMBio, the Brazilian agency in charge of conservation units. &#8220;For the Amazon, the main highlight is the inclusion of the tracajá,&#8221; Marini told Mongabay by phone. &#8220;That is a more delicate situation, because it also involves [traditional] communities that use them [for subsistence]. So, great care is needed regarding communication and how to direct actions — ensuring they don&#8217;t negatively affect those communities that have historically coexisted with the area.&#8221; Despite protection programs and conservation efforts, cágado-iaçá&#8217;s (Podocnemis sextuberculata) populations over the past 36 years — equivalent to three generations — declined by more than 50% in Amazonas and western Pará states, which accounts for approximately 70% of the species&#8217; total distribution, leading to an endangered classification, according to ICMBio&#8217;s Biodiversity Extinction Risk Assessment System (SALVE). Six-tubercled Amazon River turtle (Podocnemis sextoberculata). Image by © Rafael Bernhard via iNaturalist (CC BY 4.0). Six-tubercled Amazon River turtle (Podocnemis sextoberculata). Image by © Andrés Camilo Montes-Correa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazil-lists-the-amazon-river-turtle-as-endangered-for-the-first-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazil-lists-the-amazon-river-turtle-as-endangered-for-the-first-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323320</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vanilla, fake eggs and nausea: How Australian scientists are training foxes to avoid turtle nests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2026 13:50:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Norman Bermúdez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16174914/Turtles-Wodonga-26-of-28-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321316</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Canids, Conservation, Environment, Herps, Predators, Reptiles, Research, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researcher Ligia Pizzatto dug a small hole in the ground on the sloping banks of Ryan’s Lagoon in southeast Australia. She carefully placed an egg inside the hollow before covering it with soil, then reached for a large spray bottle and doused the area with a fine mist. The scent of vanilla filled the air, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researcher Ligia Pizzatto dug a small hole in the ground on the sloping banks of Ryan’s Lagoon in southeast Australia. She carefully placed an egg inside the hollow before covering it with soil, then reached for a large spray bottle and doused the area with a fine mist. The scent of vanilla filled the air, oddly sweet against the smell of damp earth and eucalyptus trees. While looking for another spot to repeat the process, Pizzatto came across a scattering of small bones, flat and almost geometrical in shape. “Turtle bones,” Pizzatto said. “Probably eaten by a fox.” These bones are a small sign of a much larger crisis. Freshwater turtle species that are native to Australia’s Murray-Darling River Basin are increasingly under threat, their populations collapsing under pressure from introduced predators. Not only do foxes kill turtles that venture onto land — typically nesting females — but they also dig up their nests to eat their eggs. Pizzatto, a biologist at La Trobe University in Victoria, is testing an innovative approach to intervene — one that doesn&#8217;t require killing a single fox. Young broad-shelled turtle found by Ligia Pizzatto during fieldwork. Broad-shelled turtles are classified as endangered in Victoria. Image by Ligia Pizzatto. Freshwater turtles under threat The Murray River is the longest in Australia; its course marks the boundary between the states of Victoria and New South Wales in the country’s southeast. This river and its basin are a major biodiversity hotspot and home to three native turtle&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil spill continues in Gulf of Mexico vulnerable habitats, while Pemex admits fault</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Apr 2026 11:33:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caitlin Cooper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/22111835/AP26085839385231-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317934</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Oceans, Oil Spills, Politics, Pollution, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Waste, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In Nautla, a municipality on the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, soft folds of sand await sea turtles as their annual nesting season begins between April and June. But instead of the miniature olive-green turtles — the Kemp’s ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) that show up here are the world’s smallest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In Nautla, a municipality on the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, soft folds of sand await sea turtles as their annual nesting season begins between April and June. But instead of the miniature olive-green turtles — the Kemp’s ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) that show up here are the world’s smallest species of their kind — sticky black discs the size of coins dot the coastline. Along a 1-meter (3-foot) section of beach, Nautla resident Ricardo Yepez Gerón, director-general of the Yepez Foundation, an NGO focused on sea turtle conservation, said he could count approximately 100 of these spots. “To remove the oil that has [washed up] on these beaches … let’s be honest, the coastline is too long,” Yepez Gerón told Mongabay in a video interview. “You need one person for every 10 meters [33 ft].” Similar reports of tar stains on the beaches of Veracruz, Tabasco and Campeche, along the southern arc of the Gulf of Mexico, have cropped up since early March. According to a late March report from the Coral Reef Network of the Gulf of Mexico, what appeared to be an oil spill had impacted 933 kilometers (about 580 miles) of shoreline — and at least seven of nine natural protected areas, ANPs by their Spanish acronym, in the Tabasco, Veracruz and Tamaulipas states, according to Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Mexico’s secretary of environment and natural resources. For 67 days, the government denied any wrongdoing as various scenarios circulated regarding the source&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317934</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon waterway noise threatens unique social life of giant river turtles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/amazon-waterway-noise-threatens-unique-social-life-of-giant-river-turtles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/amazon-waterway-noise-threatens-unique-social-life-of-giant-river-turtles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2026 15:27:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/16173959/Camila_Ferrara_baby_turtle_in_Purus_River-AUTHORIZED-FOR-ONLY-THIS-STORY-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315800</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Freshwater, Noise Pollution, Pollution, Rivers, Transportation, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Hatchlings talk inside their shells to time their birth, but the roar of massive barges may soon drown out their sound.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s just a sweet, squeaky sound, like that of a rubber duck. For scientists, however, it could have various meanings, ranging from “Time to spawn!&#8221; to “Come on, little ones!” to “Time to migrate!&#8221; Researchers studying the Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis expansa), South America&#8217;s largest turtle, found that hatchlings begin communicating even before birth, probably to agree on the best time to break out of the eggs and burrow up from the sand to the beach. “The Amazon turtle is one of the most social species of turtles in the world,” Camila Rudge Ferrara, the researcher who first proved the turtle’s communication skills, told Mongabay. “They migrate in groups, lay eggs in groups, and hatch in groups,” added the coordinator of the Chelonian Conservation Program in the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society in Brazil (WCS Brasil). Soon, however, the chatter of Amazon river turtles in the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon, may be disrupted by the noise of dredgers, ferries and boats circulating in the river: An ambitious waterway is being planned to ship minerals and grains to the port in the city of Santarém, in Brazil’s Pará state. “The frequency of the sound, dredging and boats may interfere with the turtles&#8217; communication,” Ferrara told Mongabay, but noted that scientists haven’t yet been able to establish this as fact. “The high-frequency underwater noise will disrupt the migration of these animals.” The latest conservation assessment for the species is expected to declare it endangered on the IUCN Red List,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/amazon-waterway-noise-threatens-unique-social-life-of-giant-river-turtles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/amazon-waterway-noise-threatens-unique-social-life-of-giant-river-turtles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/16172901/som_tipo_6_apenas_por_filhotes.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg" />
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					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315800</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Outlook for migratory species worsens amid habitat loss &#038; avian flu, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 16:03:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12132145/Sea-Turtle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315646</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Arctic, Asia, Central Asia, Chad, East Africa, Europe, Global, Kenya, Serengeti, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Diseases, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Jaguars, Mammals, Mapping, Migration, Mining, Poaching, Sea Turtles, Sharks, Species, Turtles, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From shorebirds flying between their Arctic breeding grounds and southerly foraging ranges to freshwater fish returning to native spawning streams, migratory animals are struggling. About half of all migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are now in decline, with the situation worsening in just the last two years, according to a new United [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From shorebirds flying between their Arctic breeding grounds and southerly foraging ranges to freshwater fish returning to native spawning streams, migratory animals are struggling. About half of all migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are now in decline, with the situation worsening in just the last two years, according to a new United Nations-backed report. When the first State of the World’s Migratory Species report was published in 2024, 44% of migratory species populations listed under the U.N. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) were declining, according to data from the IUCN Red List, the world’s most comprehensive guide to global extinction risk. Since then, the proportion of imperiled CMS-listed species rose to 49%, according to updated Red List data and new research. Though the next status report isn’t due until around 2030, conservation advocates said the deteriorating situation required an interim report, as many countries are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to conserving wildlife that depend on various habitats to complete their life cycles. “This [interim report] is saying there are some alarming trends in the meantime; that we don’t want to wait six years to talk about this,” said CMS executive secretary Amy Fraenkel. Jaguars have no subspecies. Their range extends from Mexico to Argentina, but some populations are cut off, at risk of inbreeding and the demise that comes with it. Image by Gregoire Dubois. The convention, established in 1979, aims to conserve migratory species by protecting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Texas sea turtles have lost a conservation hero (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/texas-sea-turtles-have-lost-a-conservation-hero-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/texas-sea-turtles-have-lost-a-conservation-hero-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Feb 2026 22:36:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Todd Steiner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/08142930/TT_Kemps_Ridley_sea_turtle_nesting_National-Park-Service-Public-domain-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314318</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Texas and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Obituary, Oceans, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Carole Allen — founder of HEART (Help Endangered Animals Ridley Turtles) and the first director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s Gulf of Mexico office — passed away at the age of 90. For decades, she was the voice of the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii), and one of the central figures [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Carole Allen — founder of HEART (Help Endangered Animals Ridley Turtles) and the first director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s Gulf of Mexico office — passed away at the age of 90. For decades, she was the voice of the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii), and one of the central figures responsible for bringing this species back from the brink of extinction. HEART began as an all-volunteer, grassroots organization dedicated to educating Texas schoolchildren about the mysterious and imperiled Kemp’s ridley. But Carole always insisted that education alone was not enough. People had to be inspired to care and then motivated to act. That is exactly what she did. Carole inspired not only children, but teachers, scientists, policymakers, and even fishermen who initially viewed endangered species protections as a threat to their livelihoods. She had an uncanny ability to bring people together and turn concern into action, whether through community projects like hand-sewn, heart-shaped stuffed turtles, or sea turtle cookie cutters that helped spread the message while raising funds for conservation. But Carole’s warmth was matched by her resolve. She was fearless. She did not back down in the face of intimidation from powerful politicians or threats from angry fishermen. When Kemp’s ridley turtles were being killed, Carole stood her ground. I first met Carole in 1990 in Mexico City, when we were both invited by the President of Mexico to witness the historic announcement closing the country’s notorious sea turtle slaughterhouse and permanently banning sea&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/texas-sea-turtles-have-lost-a-conservation-hero-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/texas-sea-turtles-have-lost-a-conservation-hero-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314318</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study refutes claim that Indonesia’s legal turtle trade supports livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/study-refutes-claim-that-indonesias-legal-turtle-trade-supports-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/study-refutes-claim-that-indonesias-legal-turtle-trade-supports-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Feb 2026 18:03:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/11145513/Dogania_subplana_head_Kaeng_Krachan_National_Park-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314130</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Reptiles, Research, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With an evolutionary history of more than 200 million years, turtles and tortoises have outlived dinosaurs and persisted on the planet despite mass extinction events. But around the turn of the 21st century, chelonian numbers in Southeast Asia dropped so dramatically that it sparked what biologists called the “Asian turtle crisis.” With a growing middle [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With an evolutionary history of more than 200 million years, turtles and tortoises have outlived dinosaurs and persisted on the planet despite mass extinction events. But around the turn of the 21st century, chelonian numbers in Southeast Asia dropped so dramatically that it sparked what biologists called the “Asian turtle crisis.” With a growing middle class in China, turtle meat was no longer a delicacy savored on special occasions; it became a staple meal, and turtle numbers plummeted. Coupled with disappearing and polluted habitats, the demand for these aquatic reptiles threatens to wipe out more than half of the world’s tortoise and turtle species. Yet, harvest and trade continue in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is a prominent exporter, with four of its 39 species targeted for meat. The vulnerable Asiatic softshell turtle (Amyda cartilaginea), the endangered Southeast Asian box turtle (Cuora amboinensis), the Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata) and the Malayan softshell turtle (Dogania subplana) fill the country&#8217;s yearly harvest quota of nearly 50,000 turtles. This legal trade purportedly provides sustainable, reliable income for those who capture and sell them. However, wildlife trade researcher Vincent Nijman and his colleagues refute this claim in a study published in the journal Discover Animals. They compared turtle collectors’ estimated income from the legal meat trade with minimum wage work across different Indonesian provinces to see if it really provided adequate income — and to determine whether traders needed to illegally trade turtles to make it a profitable business. “We were looking for some support&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/study-refutes-claim-that-indonesias-legal-turtle-trade-supports-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/study-refutes-claim-that-indonesias-legal-turtle-trade-supports-livelihoods/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314130</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Turtle Bank: The last of these Asian turtle species find refuge in the Carolina pines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-turtle-bank-the-last-of-these-asian-turtle-species-find-refuge-in-the-carolina-pines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-turtle-bank-the-last-of-these-asian-turtle-species-find-refuge-in-the-carolina-pines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jan 2026 16:55:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/28053204/Rote-Island-snake-necked-turtles-Chelodina-mccordi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313417</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat Loss, Herps, Impact Of Climate Change, Species Discovery, Traditional Medicine, Tropical Deforestation, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep in the coastal woods of South Carolina, behind high fences, guard dogs, and security cameras, is a group of people who know more about turtles than you. Posters and paintings of turtles and tortoises are plastered on every wall in the moss-green classroom where they meet. A turtle-themed library occupies one corner, complete with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep in the coastal woods of South Carolina, behind high fences, guard dogs, and security cameras, is a group of people who know more about turtles than you. Posters and paintings of turtles and tortoises are plastered on every wall in the moss-green classroom where they meet. A turtle-themed library occupies one corner, complete with ceramic turtle decor. Looking around, I count dozens of turtle shirts, turtle hats and turtle stickers on water bottles and laptops. There are more than a few turtle tattoos. This is the Turtle Survival Center in Cross, South Carolina, USA, and it&#8217;s hosting the third annual “Turtle School” (officially the “Chelonian Biology, Conservation, and Management Course”). Imagine Hogwarts, but for turtle nerds. Course participants watch a plumbing presentation during the 2025 Chelonian Biology, Conservation, and Management Course at the Turtle Survival Center in South Carolina. Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay. Cris Hagen, Turtle Survival Alliance&#8217;s director of animal management and collections sports a turtle tattoo on his ring finger. Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay. In September 2025, 16 participants from three countries traveled to the Deep South for a weeklong crash course. Most are specialists from prominent zoos across the U.S. But there&#8217;s also a vet from Argentina, a glass artist focused on sea turtle conservation and Madeline Tesolin, a T-shirt seller at concerts from Ontario, Canada, who also drives injured turtles to vets in her spare time. Over the seven-day intensive, they&#8217;ll learn from turtle and tortoise conservation celebrities how to care&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-turtle-bank-the-last-of-these-asian-turtle-species-find-refuge-in-the-carolina-pines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-turtle-bank-the-last-of-these-asian-turtle-species-find-refuge-in-the-carolina-pines/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313417</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Solar-lights protect sea turtles from fishing nets, Mexico trials show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/solar-lit-fishing-nets-cut-sea-turtle-bycatch-by-63-mexico-trials-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/solar-lit-fishing-nets-cut-sea-turtle-bycatch-by-63-mexico-trials-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2025 22:04:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/28215521/Low-Res_ASUResearcherJesseSenko_03.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310353</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Baja California, Latin America, Mexico, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Oceans, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the waters off Isla el Pardito, where rocky reefs meet mangrove swamps in Mexico&#8217;s Gulf of California, marine biologists and veteran fishers are using the power of the sun to protect endangered sea turtles. This region has some of the highest reported rates of turtles being accidentally caught in fishing nets, a problem known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the waters off Isla el Pardito, where rocky reefs meet mangrove swamps in Mexico&#8217;s Gulf of California, marine biologists and veteran fishers are using the power of the sun to protect endangered sea turtles. This region has some of the highest reported rates of turtles being accidentally caught in fishing nets, a problem known as bycatch that poses one of the biggest threats to marine turtle populations worldwide. So researchers from the U.S. worked with local fishers to attach solar-powered lights, designed as floating buoys, onto gill nets to alert turtles to the presence of the nets. They found that this reduced sea turtle bycatch by 63% during controlled experiments, according to a study published in Conservation Letters. All 67 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) captured during the study were released alive. The idea for the solar-powered lights came from three workshops starting in 2018, where scientists and fishers worked together to find alternatives to existing lights that use disposable batteries or chemical sticks. Traditional LED lights require regular battery replacements, and chemical light sticks only last 24 hours, leading to greater costs and waste. &#8220;They took us into account and gave us the freedom to give our opinions and make modifications,” said Juan Pablo Cuevas Amador, a fisher from the community of El Pardito who participated in developing and testing the devices and is listed as a co-author of the study. “For us, it&#8217;s important that it be done in collaboration because with what they know and what we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/solar-lit-fishing-nets-cut-sea-turtle-bycatch-by-63-mexico-trials-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310353</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Mexico, world’s smallest turtle faces big threats from trafficking, habitat loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-mexico-worlds-smallest-turtle-faces-big-threats-from-trafficking-habitat-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-mexico-worlds-smallest-turtle-faces-big-threats-from-trafficking-habitat-loss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 11:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandra Weiss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/14104409/1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Poaching, Rediscovered Species, Reptiles, Species, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It sounds like a scene out of the Ocean&#8217;s series of heist movies. Only this one didn’t happen in Las Vegas, but at a Mexican university campus surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. And it wasn’t about taking on a casino, but stealing valuable turtles. Armando Escobedo Galván, a biologist at Centro Universitario de la Costa [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It sounds like a scene out of the Ocean&#8217;s series of heist movies. Only this one didn’t happen in Las Vegas, but at a Mexican university campus surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. And it wasn’t about taking on a casino, but stealing valuable turtles. Armando Escobedo Galván, a biologist at Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUC) in Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, says he’s still startled about how the thieves tricked him last December. “Two people arrived at my office,” he recounts, “wearing uniforms of the environmental prosecutor&#8217;s office,” a federal agency known as PROFEPA. They said they were there for an inspection of his turtle program, asked for his permits, and cited corresponding laws. Everything during the two-hour procedure seemed completely normal. Then they asked to see the laboratory where the turtles were kept for scientific research: a climate-controlled container, secured with a padlock. That&#8217;s when the problems began. The officials criticized the way the turtles were being kept and complained about missing permits. Escobedo Galván says he started feeling stressed. They threatened to punish him, he says, so he was relieved when they offered instead to take 40 of the 100 turtles into their “protection” while he sorted out the necessary paperwork. “We&#8217;ll bring them back when everything is in order,” Escobedo Galván recalls them telling him. “That was a psychological masterpiece,” he says. “They put me under pressure and then offered a solution.” Measuring only 10 centimeters (4 inches) in length, the Vallarta mud turtle is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-mexico-worlds-smallest-turtle-faces-big-threats-from-trafficking-habitat-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2025 17:25:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/13181725/IMG_3677-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309502</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Illegal Trade, Law, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In undercover raids carried out in late September, Mexican authorities discovered 2,339 wild-caught turtles crammed into bins in five locations in Jalisco and Baja California states. Along with the live reptiles, they found a massive stash of other illegal wildlife products that are coveted as delicacies in East Asia: 1,569 kilograms (3,459 pounds) of sea [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In undercover raids carried out in late September, Mexican authorities discovered 2,339 wild-caught turtles crammed into bins in five locations in Jalisco and Baja California states. Along with the live reptiles, they found a massive stash of other illegal wildlife products that are coveted as delicacies in East Asia: 1,569 kilograms (3,459 pounds) of sea cucumbers, 1,188 kg (2,619 lbs) of shark fins, and 39 kg (86 lbs) of totoaba swim bladders. The seized goods were valued at 134 million pesos ($7.3 million). They were destined for the U.S. and East Asia, according to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. Authorities arrested three people and charged them with running an organized wildlife trafficking network through an unnamed Guadalajara-based company. The seizure — the largest since 2020, when authorities nabbed 15,000 turtles in Mexico City, also destined for China — highlights the scale of this illicit activity. It was the result of a 10-month-long operation, launched after 55 critically endangered Vallarta mud turtles (Kinosternon vogti) were stolen from a university lab in the city of Puerto Vallarta in January 2025. But this operation had a notable difference, said Taggert Butterfield, the scientific director at the turtle conservation nonprofit Estudiantes Conservando la Naturaleza (Students Conserving Nature) in Mexico. “This is the first major bust where the government used intelligence [gathering] and collaboration with other agencies to make a significant confiscation.” One of the more than 900 Tabasco mud turtle (Kinosternon acutum) seized by authorities. These turtles are a local delicacy in Mexico, despite being&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309502</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New report warns 54% of turtles and tortoises are at risk of extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-report-warns-54-of-turtles-and-tortoises-are-at-risk-of-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-report-warns-54-of-turtles-and-tortoises-are-at-risk-of-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2025 19:32:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/08202026/Screenshot-2025-09-08-at-3.19.42-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304381</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Reptiles, Saving Species From Extinction, Sea Turtles, Solutions, Species, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Most people have a turtle story, whether that&#8217;s seeing a turtle at an aquarium, having a turtle as a pet as a kid, or they helped one cross the road, or one happened across their backyard one day,&#8221; Jordan Gray, from the Turtle Survival Alliance, told Mongabay. For many Indigenous cultures, turtles hold profound spiritual [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Most people have a turtle story, whether that&#8217;s seeing a turtle at an aquarium, having a turtle as a pet as a kid, or they helped one cross the road, or one happened across their backyard one day,&#8221; Jordan Gray, from the Turtle Survival Alliance, told Mongabay. For many Indigenous cultures, turtles hold profound spiritual significance. Some refer to North America itself as Turtle Island. These ancient creatures seem to inspire an innate human connection, but these survivors of the age of dinosaurs now face their greatest challenge: us. More than half of the world&#8217;s turtle and tortoise species now face extinction, according to the 2025 &#8220;Turtles in Trouble: The World&#8217;s Most Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles&#8221; report compiled by the Turtle Conservation Coalition. According to the report, 196 of the world&#8217;s 359 living turtle and tortoise species are now considered threatened under the criteria of the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Of these, 134 species (36.8%) are classified as endangered or critically endangered. The situation has deteriorated since the last major evaluation seven years ago. Five species have gone extinct in modern times. &#8220;The crisis is worsening,” said Gray, one of the report&#8217;s editors. “Despite all of our collective efforts as a global turtle conservation community, the number and percentage of threatened species have increased&#8230;But, there are success stories that offer hope.&#8221; The report lists the top 66 species facing the most imminent threat of extinction. To identify the species in most immediate peril, the Turtle Conservation Coalition&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-report-warns-54-of-turtles-and-tortoises-are-at-risk-of-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-report-warns-54-of-turtles-and-tortoises-are-at-risk-of-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304381</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Former poachers guard Cabo Verde’s endangered sea turtles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/former-poachers-guard-cabo-verdes-endangered-sea-turtles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/former-poachers-guard-cabo-verdes-endangered-sea-turtles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2025 18:03:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/04173212/2-scaled-e1754330170778-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303705</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Ocean, Cape Verde, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Hunting, Illegal Trade, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Poaching, Sea Turtles, Trade, and Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Seven years into patrolling on Cabo Verde’s islands, Roni Nelson Batista Ramos now protects endangered sea turtles on the beaches where he once poached them. A few decades ago, he hunted sea turtles to feed his family, he says, since consuming turtle meat was a common practice among locals on his island. Back then, all [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Seven years into patrolling on Cabo Verde’s islands, Roni Nelson Batista Ramos now protects endangered sea turtles on the beaches where he once poached them. A few decades ago, he hunted sea turtles to feed his family, he says, since consuming turtle meat was a common practice among locals on his island. Back then, all he did was hunt turtles, and it was free food on the table, Ramos tells Mongabay. However, after stricter conservation efforts and new legislation that criminalized killing threatened turtle species, poaching activities plummeted in the country. Many poachers were fined and struggled to adapt to a new life. “I had turtle meat for personal consumption and never realized I could make a living out of conserving them,” he says. “But now, I guard them against the poachers, and it’s motivating to see how these efforts have driven positive impacts for their conservation.” Ramos is among about a dozen former poachers who have been employed by conservation organizations to keep poaching numbers low on the country’s beaches. According to the Turtle Foundation, illegal catches of female turtles on the island of Boa Vista have declined from 1,253 in 2007 to just 20 in 2024. Meanwhile, in the same period, loggerhead turtle nests on the island increased more than sevenfold. Rangers find a sea turtle on the Lacacão beach during a morning census. Image courtesy of The Turtle Foundation. A ranger measuring a turtle’s shell and collecting data at the Canto camp. Image courtesy of The Turtle&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/former-poachers-guard-cabo-verdes-endangered-sea-turtles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/former-poachers-guard-cabo-verdes-endangered-sea-turtles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303705</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysia’s turtle egg buyback scheme saved thousands — but is it sustainable?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/malaysias-turtle-egg-buyback-scheme-saved-thousands-but-is-it-sustainable/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/malaysias-turtle-egg-buyback-scheme-saved-thousands-but-is-it-sustainable/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2025 05:02:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/28141435/leatherback-turtle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303290</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the moonlit beaches of Terengganu state, on Malaysia’s east coast, green sea turtles have been returning for generations to lay their eggs. For just as long, people have collected, sold and eaten the eggs as a delicacy, supporting coastal livelihoods but stressing turtle populations. As a conservation compromise to balance livelihoods and turtle protection, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the moonlit beaches of Terengganu state, on Malaysia’s east coast, green sea turtles have been returning for generations to lay their eggs. For just as long, people have collected, sold and eaten the eggs as a delicacy, supporting coastal livelihoods but stressing turtle populations. As a conservation compromise to balance livelihoods and turtle protection, the state’s Department of Fisheries (DoF) introduced a licensing system in 1951, auctioning rights to harvest eggs from designated beaches. In 1961, it added a buyback scheme, paying licensed collectors to hand over eggs for relocation to protected hatcheries. With limited resources, the DoF partnered with NGOs like Marine Conservation and Research Organisation Malaysia (PULIHARA), which has run buyback efforts since 2016. While the scheme helped divert eggs from markets, it also faced financial and logistical challenges — especially until 2022, when Terengganu expanded its leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) egg ban to cover all species, ending legal egg sales altogether. Now, a study published in Ocean &amp; Coastal Management in May 2025 offers the clearest picture yet of the buyback model’s conservation impact — and its limits — in this new legal landscape. “We wanted to better understand the conservation impact of our efforts &#8230; and whether such a model could remain viable in the long term,” said lead author Seh Ling Long, who conducted the study while at PULIHARA and now works as a senior program officer at wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC. During the five-year study period, from 2016 to 2021, PULIHARA bought more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/malaysias-turtle-egg-buyback-scheme-saved-thousands-but-is-it-sustainable/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/malaysias-turtle-egg-buyback-scheme-saved-thousands-but-is-it-sustainable/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303290</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s new bycatch training aims to help save hooked sea turtles: Q&#038;A with fisher Gustavo Rosales</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2025 16:32:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina Alvarado]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/17135201/8-Buenas-Practicas-Liberacion-TORTUGA-1-e1746057118140-768x512-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bycatch, Conservation, Education, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Interviews, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Sea Turtles, Seabirds, and Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Attracted by bait, sea turtles off the coast of southern Peru often get caught on fishing hooks intended for mahi-mahi. Releasing the turtles is complicated as they’re heavy animals, and some try to defend themselves from humans by flapping their flippers and biting. “It gives me great satisfaction to release them,” says Gustavo Rosales, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Attracted by bait, sea turtles off the coast of southern Peru often get caught on fishing hooks intended for mahi-mahi. Releasing the turtles is complicated as they’re heavy animals, and some try to defend themselves from humans by flapping their flippers and biting. “It gives me great satisfaction to release them,” says Gustavo Rosales, a fisher from the city of Ilo. “If it weren’t for the turtles, there would be no balance. Everything is in a chain.” Rosales is one of 4,472 Peruvian fishers who have been trained by the government in best practices for releasing turtles, seabirds and other animals unintentionally caught by fishing gear, better known as bycatch. A hawksbill turtle, one of the species fishers have tried to rescue and release in southern Peru. Image courtesy of WWF. The training workshops, held along the country’s coastline, began in 2022 to implement a regulation aimed at the mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) fishery. The regulation requires that at least one crew member per boat has obtained a training certificate. Jesús Nieves, general director of technical development and training in artisanal fishing at the National Fund for Fisheries Development (FONDEPES), says there are approximately 4,500 fishing boats targeting mahi-mahi, with about one trained crew member per boat at present. The goal is to reach 10,000 trained fishers, so the workshops are ongoing. Gustavo Rosales during a training workshop aimed at implementing the regulation for the mahi-mahi fishery. Image courtesy of Prodelphinus Perú. Rosales says the training not only raises awareness among&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>15 years after the BP oil spill disaster, how is the Gulf of Mexico faring?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2025 18:24:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/21165201/BP-oil-burn-plane-pj-hahn-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297888</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Pollution, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PLAQUEMINES PARISH, U.S. — Down past New Orleans lies Plaquemines parish, a narrow sliver of land at the tip of Louisiana that reaches southward like a finger pointing into the Gulf of Mexico. Past barbecue joints, a naval base, Baptist churches, white egrets, blue herons, and signs advertising items FOR SALE (live shrimp, empty lots [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PLAQUEMINES PARISH, U.S. — Down past New Orleans lies Plaquemines parish, a narrow sliver of land at the tip of Louisiana that reaches southward like a finger pointing into the Gulf of Mexico. Past barbecue joints, a naval base, Baptist churches, white egrets, blue herons, and signs advertising items FOR SALE (live shrimp, empty lots and crawfish), Captain Kindra Arnesen lives with her husband and dog in a tidy brick house that smells like eucalyptus potpourri and home cooking. &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing I&#8217;d rather be doing than be out on the water fishing, especially offshore. I like to get high up on the boat and look out over the water as far as I can see,&#8221; Arnesen told Mongabay while stirring a pot of beans. She has worked small commercial fishing boats out in the gulf for decades. “The only thing I love more is my grandbaby.” &#8220;Before the spill, you could ride out there and everywhere you rode there were bait balls of bonita, blue runners, thread herrings, spinners jumping through them. Everywhere you went it was just a sight,&#8221; Arnesen recounted, referring to plentiful schools of small fish and spinner dolphins in the open ocean. &#8220;After the spill you could ride a hundred miles and not see a bait ball … It slowly died.&#8221; Fireboat crews work to extinguish the burning wreckage of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The disaster was one of the worst ecological catastrophes in history. Image courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard. April 20,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297888</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How one researcher walked thousands of miles along India’s shores to conserve sea turtles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-curious-conservationist-who-walked-along-indias-coastlines-to-learn-about-sea-turtles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-curious-conservationist-who-walked-along-indias-coastlines-to-learn-about-sea-turtles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2025 11:41:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/20113731/Umeed-Mistry-1200x798-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296169</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the screen: DCEFF]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Endangered Species, Environment, Film, Herps, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Satish Bhaskar was a curious man. From a very young age he was fascinated with the sea and the diverse marine creatures, especially turtles. When he learnt that sea turtles were being exploited in India for their eggs, shells and flesh, he understood the importance of documenting and protecting nesting turtle beaches. In the late [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Satish Bhaskar was a curious man. From a very young age he was fascinated with the sea and the diverse marine creatures, especially turtles. When he learnt that sea turtles were being exploited in India for their eggs, shells and flesh, he understood the importance of documenting and protecting nesting turtle beaches. In the late 1970s, he decided to cover every single beach and island in India, by foot. Over 19 years, Bhaskar surveyed more than 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of the country’s coastline and published several important reports, filling huge gaps of knowledge about sea turtle distribution. He even chose to maroon himself on an uninhabited island in Lakshadweep for months, equipped with only basic essentials and a transistor, to study turtles. In a documentary about his life and career, titled Turtle Walker, the late conservationist described being with turtles as some of the happiest days in his life. “I am glad I did the things I did,” he said. Produced by Emaho Films and backed by Tiger Baby, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and Ceres, the 75-minute documentary is already winning international recognition and is set to be screened at the DC Environmental Film Festival 2025 (DCEFF 2025). Mongabay is a media partner for DCEFF 2025 and has interviewed some filmmakers as part of this collaboration. In this interview with Mongabay India, Taira Malaney, the director of Turtle Walker talked about why she chose Satish Bhaskar as the subject of her documentary, the challenges of filming with turtles, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-curious-conservationist-who-walked-along-indias-coastlines-to-learn-about-sea-turtles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-curious-conservationist-who-walked-along-indias-coastlines-to-learn-about-sea-turtles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296169</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Concerns of illegal sea turtle trade persist in Bali as police foil smugglers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/concerns-of-illegal-sea-turtle-trade-persist-in-bali-as-police-foil-smugglers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/concerns-of-illegal-sea-turtle-trade-persist-in-bali-as-police-foil-smugglers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2025 11:25:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Luh De Suriyani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/26172046/sea-turtle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295064</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bali, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Culture, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Religions, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Traditional People, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DENPASAR, Indonesia — Conservation foundations on the Indonesian island of Bali raised concerns in February over the volume of live sea turtles seized from traffickers so far this year. “The number of turtles smuggled shows that the main purpose isn’t just for ceremonies, it’s to meet greater consumption in the market,” Ranny R. Yuneni, endangered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DENPASAR, Indonesia — Conservation foundations on the Indonesian island of Bali raised concerns in February over the volume of live sea turtles seized from traffickers so far this year. “The number of turtles smuggled shows that the main purpose isn’t just for ceremonies, it’s to meet greater consumption in the market,” Ranny R. Yuneni, endangered animals lead at WWF Indonesia, told Mongabay Indonesia. On Jan. 12, police in Jembrana district in the island’s northwest told reporters that officers had recovered 29 green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) transported by road, five of which later died. On Jan. 24 police said they had foiled criminal attempts to trade 23 turtles in Pemuteran, a village on the west of the island’s northern coast road. The Pemuteran coastline is home to several small resorts and other tourism ventures. “We’re still investigating who the buyers are,” said Ratna Hendratmoko, the head of the Bali provincial conservation agency. Live green turtle being butchered for its flesh and shell, Indonesia. Image © Peter Van der Bunt / Greenpeace. Shell companies Poaching of turtle eggs by local communities and organized crime is the primary driver of a crisis that has condemned six of the world’s seven sea turtle species to threatened status, according to global wildlife watchdog the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, a study by Arizona State University researchers published in Global Change Biology in 2022 estimated that more than 1.1 million sea turtles were killed between 1990 and 2020. These killings were primarily&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/concerns-of-illegal-sea-turtle-trade-persist-in-bali-as-police-foil-smugglers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/concerns-of-illegal-sea-turtle-trade-persist-in-bali-as-police-foil-smugglers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295064</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists suspect fishing nets, increased tourism for sea turtle deaths in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/conservationists-suspect-fishing-nets-increased-tourism-for-sea-turtle-deaths-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/conservationists-suspect-fishing-nets-increased-tourism-for-sea-turtle-deaths-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2025 12:04:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/24115157/Dead-Olive-Ridley-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294896</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fishing, Herps, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Sea Turtles, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Within only a couple of weeks during their breeding season, more than 100 olive ridley turtles were found dead at Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar Beach. Conservationists blame the indiscriminate use of fishing nets as one of the major reasons behind the incident. Bangladesh is host to five out of seven sea turtle species: olive ridley turtles [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Within only a couple of weeks during their breeding season, more than 100 olive ridley turtles were found dead at Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar Beach. Conservationists blame the indiscriminate use of fishing nets as one of the major reasons behind the incident. Bangladesh is host to five out of seven sea turtle species: olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). The olive ridley turtle is the most common, while the others visit Bangladesh’s coasts in much fewer numbers. The olive ridleys, which are vulnerable under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), usually arrive at Bangladesh’s coasts from October to April seeking favorable conditions like warmer weather to lay eggs before returning to the sea. The turtle’s main nesting grounds are the islands of the country’s southeastern district, Cox’s Bazar, in the Bay of Bengal. “Though the death of olive ridley turtle is not rare on Bangladesh coasts during their breeding period, this year’s the number is huge as it crossed more than a hundred in the last few weeks,” said Shital Kumar Nath, a wildlife researcher and project director at Community Development Centre (CODEC) Bangladesh. “Based on our analysis, we apprehend the turtles clashing with fishing nets and later getting injured as one of the main reasons behind such a high death toll,” he said. About 1.63 million fishers in Bangladesh rely on fishing for their livelihood, mostly venturing into the sea&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/conservationists-suspect-fishing-nets-increased-tourism-for-sea-turtle-deaths-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/conservationists-suspect-fishing-nets-increased-tourism-for-sea-turtle-deaths-in-bangladesh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294896</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can a new DNA test save the world’s rarest turtle?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/can-a-new-dna-test-un-extinct-the-worlds-rarest-turtle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/can-a-new-dna-test-un-extinct-the-worlds-rarest-turtle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2025 15:06:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/19145210/Photo-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294691</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Conservation Technology, DNA, Endangered Species, Extinction, Technology, Turtles, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It might sound hyperbolic to say that finding even one female turtle can revive an entire species. However, nothing could be truer for the critically endangered Yangtze softshell turtle, a species for which no known female individuals are left on the planet. With the species functionally extinct, scientists and conservationists have ramped up efforts in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It might sound hyperbolic to say that finding even one female turtle can revive an entire species. However, nothing could be truer for the critically endangered Yangtze softshell turtle, a species for which no known female individuals are left on the planet. With the species functionally extinct, scientists and conservationists have ramped up efforts in recent years to find any unknown individuals that could help rewrite the fate of the turtle. Now, a method specifically developed for this purpose might provide a faint glimmer of hope for the world’s largest freshwater turtle. Scientists have developed and tested a portable environmental DNA kit to help detect the presence of the Yangtze softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) in large bodies of water. With the help of this tool, they hope to find any as-yet-unknown turtles that might be swimming around undetected in the lakes of Vietnam. With the newly developed portable environmental DNA (eDNA) kit, scientists are hoping to detect unknown individuals of the critically endangered Yangtze softshell turtle. Image courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society. “Their future existence really hinges on finding additional animals that may still exist in unexplored lakes, both in terms of protecting the animals and securing a captive breeding population,” Tracie Seimon, director of the molecular laboratory at the Wildlife Conservation Society, who was involved in the work, told Mongabay in a video interview. A study published in the journal Environmental DNA describes how the kit was developed and validated. According to the study, the kit “bypasses the need&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/can-a-new-dna-test-un-extinct-the-worlds-rarest-turtle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/can-a-new-dna-test-un-extinct-the-worlds-rarest-turtle/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294691</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report reveals staggering levels of wildlife trafficking in Hispanic America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Feb 2025 13:18:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/07121009/Yucatan_black_howler_Alouatta_pigra_with_baby_Peten-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294106</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Freshwater, Illegal Trade, Poaching, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From the glacial fjords of Chilean Patagonia to the beaches and mountains of Baja California, Hispanic America, representing Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean, is a biodiversity treasure trove. These include colorful macaws, showy iguanas, gaudy poison frogs and charismatic cats — animals so beautiful that people want to own them [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From the glacial fjords of Chilean Patagonia to the beaches and mountains of Baja California, Hispanic America, representing Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean, is a biodiversity treasure trove. These include colorful macaws, showy iguanas, gaudy poison frogs and charismatic cats — animals so beautiful that people want to own them as pets. A recent report throws light on what this desire for exotic pets means for biodiversity in Hispanic America, where wildlife numbers are already nosediving due to large-scale deforestation and planned infrastructure projects. The report, published by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), examines seizure and poaching incidents in Hispanic America over a six-year period and provides the first region-wide analysis of illegal wildlife trafficking, a key contributor to biodiversity loss. Most of the trafficked animals supplied the global demand for wild pets. With detailed analyses of wildlife crimes in 18 countries, the report gives a “whole picture” of the region,” says Polen Cisneros, project manager for the wildlife crime program at IFAW. “My idea was to have the first report that had all the baseline information, which people can easily access online and read about it, so we are more informed of what&#8217;s actually happening in the region.” Green iguanas (Iguana iguana), trafficked for the exotic pet trade, are the most seized lizards in Hispanic America. In countries like Thailand, they have become an invasive species. Image credits: Aatu Dorochenko &#8211; CC BY-SA 4.0. Cisneros and her team scoured through media reports,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294106</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal trade is pushing Bangladesh’s freshwater turtles to the brink</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2025 09:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/03084617/1-Seized-live-turtles-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293771</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Herps, Illegal Trade, Poaching, Reptiles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 28, 2024, wildlife inspectors from Bangladesh’s Forest Department, following a tip-off, intercepted an intercity bus in Dhaka. They discovered two crates full of live turtles in the luggage compartment. The bus operators stated that the consignment was destined for Sherpur in the northern district of Bogura, approximately 270 kilometers (168 miles) from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 28, 2024, wildlife inspectors from Bangladesh’s Forest Department, following a tip-off, intercepted an intercity bus in Dhaka. They discovered two crates full of live turtles in the luggage compartment. The bus operators stated that the consignment was destined for Sherpur in the northern district of Bogura, approximately 270 kilometers (168 miles) from the Comilla Highway (N114), where it was loaded. “Every day, similar consignments are transported along this route,” said Siddikul Islam, the bus driver. Following the raid, on Dec. 30, the wildlife inspectors tracked down a temporary turtle storage warehouse in a wet market in Chandpur, a riverine district neighboring Comilla. There, they reportedly confiscated 1,300 live freshwater turtles, together weighing 280 kilograms (617 pounds). All three species they found — the Indian roofed turtle (Pangshura tecta), the Indian eyed turtle (Morenia petersi) and the Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata) — are protected species under Bangladesh’s Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Act, 2012. Earlier, on Dec. 10, the Forest Department had raided another temporary storage warehouse in Chandpur and seized 800 kg (1764 lbs.) of turtles belonging to the same three freshwater species. Sanaullah Patwary, director of the Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU), said he was gravely concerned. He told Mongabay that the confiscation of such large quantities of smuggled turtles within just 20 days indicates an alarming expansion of the illegal turtle trade in Bangladesh. Despite a ban on turtle trading in the country since 1998, the hunting and smuggling of freshwater turtles have persisted,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293771</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal cockfighting threatens endangered sea turtles across Central America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2024 18:05:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tina Deines]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/06112525/hawksbill-sea-turtle-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291591</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Law Enforcement, Marine, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cockfighting has been illegal in Costa Rica for more than a century, but this violent tradition persists underground across the country. To make the birds deadlier, their owners often tie razor-sharp blades to their legs, known as gaffs or cockspurs. Aside from the roosters, which get seriously injured or killed during fights, another species has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cockfighting has been illegal in Costa Rica for more than a century, but this violent tradition persists underground across the country. To make the birds deadlier, their owners often tie razor-sharp blades to their legs, known as gaffs or cockspurs. Aside from the roosters, which get seriously injured or killed during fights, another species has become an unlikely victim of the cockspur trade: the hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), a critically endangered species whose shell is often used to make these deadly implements. Hawksbills have long been targeted for their black-and-brown mottled shells, used in jewelry, combs and other decorations going back to ancient Rome. The species was also historically hunted for its meat as far back as the fifth century B.C.E. in China. Maike Heidemeyer, a Costa Rica-based marine biologist and head of biodiversity and community for the nonprofit conservation group Natural Capital Reserve, first noticed tortoiseshell spurs at holiday markets about two decades ago after moving to the country from Germany. The spurs were openly displayed, mixed in with other hawksbill-shell products like bracelets and trinkets. Though she says these types of bold exhibitions of hawksbill products have tapered off in recent years, demand remains, despite the nationwide ban on cockfighting. The critically endangered hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) are found in tropical and subtropical waters in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans where they prefer coral reefs. Image by Kanenori via Pixabay. “There are associations, groups that openly defend their right to fight cocks, even in Costa Rica,” says&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291591</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amid haze of war, Lebanese activists helped turtle hatchlings journey to sea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/amid-haze-of-war-lebanese-activists-helped-turtle-hatchlings-journey-to-sea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/amid-haze-of-war-lebanese-activists-helped-turtle-hatchlings-journey-to-sea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2024 14:15:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amélie David]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/25113802/loggerhead-turtle-hatchling-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287832</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Lebanon, and Middle East]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Anthropocene, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Endangered Species, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Poaching, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Social Conflict, Tourism, Turtles, War, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BEIRUT — Baby loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) made their way from their sandy nests in South Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, their flippers seemingly too large for their tiny bodies. Videos circulating on social media show these vulnerable creatures being carefully guided by a group of dedicated people to ensure [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BEIRUT — Baby loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) made their way from their sandy nests in South Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, their flippers seemingly too large for their tiny bodies. Videos circulating on social media show these vulnerable creatures being carefully guided by a group of dedicated people to ensure they reach the water safely. Between mid-June and mid-September, such scenes regularly occurred at Al-Mansouri Beach, south of the city of Tyre, even as war loomed audibly in the background. The people, part of a volunteer group that has been tending the beach and the turtle nests there for two decades, continued their work this nesting season undeterred by the violence around them. A series of cross-border attacks between Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian Shia party in Lebanon, and Israel have spiraled since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023. In South Lebanon, more than 600 people had been killed, including at least 147 civilians, as of Sept. 20, and more than 111,000 had been displaced from their homes, according to the latest figures from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Numbers have risen sharply since the recent escalation in which Israel detonated pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah militants and struck hundreds of targets, killing more than 500 additional people across the country including many civilians as of Sept. 23, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. In northern Israel, conflict with Hezbollah has killed dozens and displaced tens of thousands, according&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/amid-haze-of-war-lebanese-activists-helped-turtle-hatchlings-journey-to-sea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/amid-haze-of-war-lebanese-activists-helped-turtle-hatchlings-journey-to-sea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ecuador’s Indigenous Cofán show how to have your turtle and eat it too</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/ecuadors-indigenous-cofan-show-how-to-have-your-turtle-and-eat-it-too/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/ecuadors-indigenous-cofan-show-how-to-have-your-turtle-and-eat-it-too/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2024 16:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/17155452/CharapasZabaloMJTI-WWF-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284487</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At the end of the 1980s, the Indigenous Cofán community of Zábalo, inside Ecuador’s Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, was alarmed by what was happening on the banks of the Aguarico River. Like in all the other tributaries of the Amazon, heavy hunting of yellow-spotted Amazon river turtles (Podocnemis unifilis) and harvesting of their eggs was causing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At the end of the 1980s, the Indigenous Cofán community of Zábalo, inside Ecuador’s Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, was alarmed by what was happening on the banks of the Aguarico River. Like in all the other tributaries of the Amazon, heavy hunting of yellow-spotted Amazon river turtles (Podocnemis unifilis) and harvesting of their eggs was causing a dramatic decline in their population. The freshwater turtles that had historically fed the nearby villages and that used to be abundant were disappearing. “We used to walk along the river on the different beaches picking eggs. Indigenous peoples, colonizers and all the groups of people that were there would pick turtles and eat them,” says Felipe Borman, originally from Zábalo and a member of the Cofán Survival Fund (FSC), an organization dedicated to the conservation of this Indigenous people’s culture and of the rainforest where they live. “We don’t have the exact numbers on how it was before, but the elders say there used to be a lot of yellow-spotted Amazon river turtles and that, if you went down the Aguarico, the turtles were there, as many as stones.” Young yellow-spotted Amazon river turtles (Podocnemis unifilis) heading into the waters of the Aguarico River for the first time. Image courtesy María José Torres/WWF Ecuador. “We know that since humans have been in the area, with the building of their communities, turtles declined,” Borman says. Sometime in the late ’80s, in the egg harvest season, between August and January, they found only 180 turtle nests.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/ecuadors-indigenous-cofan-show-how-to-have-your-turtle-and-eat-it-too/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284487</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To end turtle hunting, an African island state embraced the hunters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/to-end-turtle-hunting-an-african-island-state-embraced-the-hunters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/to-end-turtle-hunting-an-african-island-state-embraced-the-hunters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2024 08:49:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Dulisse]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/16111334/FP5-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284390</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Sao Tome And Principe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fellows, Marine, Marine Animals, Sea Turtles, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Five of the world’s seven species of marine turtles come to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, to breed or forage. The islanders patrol nesting sites, survey adult turtles at sea, educate students about the animals’ life cycle, work for ecotourism operations, and sell jewelry made from plastic waste [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Five of the world’s seven species of marine turtles come to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, to breed or forage. The islanders patrol nesting sites, survey adult turtles at sea, educate students about the animals’ life cycle, work for ecotourism operations, and sell jewelry made from plastic waste or cow horn instead of tortoiseshell, the traditional material of choice. It wasn’t always that way. Traditionally, locals viewed sea turtles as seafood, and often harvested them as a source of both food and income. But this hunting also endangered sea turtle populations and marine ecosystems. “The year I arrived here [in 2013], 357 sea turtles were killed,” says Sara Vieira, a marine biologist from Portugal and coordinator of conservation NGO Programa Tatô. “You could find sea turtle meat and sea turtle eggs in every market and São Tomé shop. It was quite shocking.” All this changed in 2014, when the government of São Tomé and Príncipe approved a law that was decades in the making. It criminalized the possession, trade and transportation of sea turtles in both São Tomé and Príncipe, the two islands that make up this nation. Community members on Príncipe participate in regular sea turtle monitoring projects, collecting data about and working to protect endangered sea turtles. Image courtesy of Fundação Príncipe. But having lived there for nearly a decade, Vieira says, she knew that, like anyone who faces a disruption to the way they make a living, getting some locals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/to-end-turtle-hunting-an-african-island-state-embraced-the-hunters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/to-end-turtle-hunting-an-african-island-state-embraced-the-hunters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284390</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Bangladesh, olive ridley turtles break 4-year record with 53% increase in eggs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/in-bangladesh-olive-ridley-turtle-breaks-4-year-record-with-53-increase-in-eggs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/in-bangladesh-olive-ridley-turtle-breaks-4-year-record-with-53-increase-in-eggs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2024 13:40:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Farhana Parvin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/30120947/cr_4219-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281570</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Bangladesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Sea Turtles, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This year, Bangladesh has seen its highest number of olive ridley turtle eggs, thanks to extensive conservation actions, including building awareness among local people and the vigilance of local conservation groups to ensure favorable conditions for the species. Nature Conservation Management (NACOM) found 12,425 eggs in five turtle hatcheries — Pachar Island, Shilkali Island, Shahpari [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This year, Bangladesh has seen its highest number of olive ridley turtle eggs, thanks to extensive conservation actions, including building awareness among local people and the vigilance of local conservation groups to ensure favorable conditions for the species. Nature Conservation Management (NACOM) found 12,425 eggs in five turtle hatcheries — Pachar Island, Shilkali Island, Shahpari Island, Matharbunia, and Shonadia Island in Cox&#8217;s Bazar district — through April 17 this year. The number of eggs has increased by almost 53% compared with the previous year, from 8,096 to 12,425. Those tallies represent a significant jump from the 4,713 eggs recorded in 2020-2021 and 5,763 in 2022-23. Baby turtles born from the eggs in the hatchery. Image courtesy of NACOM. Of the seven turtle species living in seas, five species are found in Bangladesh&#8217;s territorial waters: the olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), green (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and leatherback (Dermochelys imbricata). Three species of sea turtles — olive ridley, green and hawksbill — come to the coast of Bangladesh to lay their eggs. Green turtles and hawksbills are rare. The olive ridley is listed as an endangered turtle on the IUCN Red List. Olive ridley turtles usually hatch from November to April. At this time, in the dark of night, the mother turtle comes to the house (nesting ground) made in the sand on the beach and returns to the sea with eggs. How the development works Comprehensive conservation action across the beach is a key reason behind the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/in-bangladesh-olive-ridley-turtle-breaks-4-year-record-with-53-increase-in-eggs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281570</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As a megaport rises in Cameroon, a delicate coastal ecosystem ebbs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/as-a-megaport-rises-in-cameroon-a-delicate-coastal-ecosystem-ebbs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/as-a-megaport-rises-in-cameroon-a-delicate-coastal-ecosystem-ebbs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Apr 2024 07:45:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/29125127/kris-mikael-krister-tkldDsOBGRg-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280458</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Governance, Habitat Degradation, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Politics, Sea Turtles, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since he was old enough to work, Sam Elong has been a fisherman in Kribi, a coastal town of more than 90,000 inhabitants that stretches along the shore of the Gulf of Guinea at the mouth of the Kienké and Lobé rivers in Cameroon. &#8220;Before, when we went fishing, we used to come back with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since he was old enough to work, Sam Elong has been a fisherman in Kribi, a coastal town of more than 90,000 inhabitants that stretches along the shore of the Gulf of Guinea at the mouth of the Kienké and Lobé rivers in Cameroon. &#8220;Before, when we went fishing, we used to come back with 100-150 kg [220-330 pounds] of fish,” Elong tells Mongabay during a video call. “But over the last 10 years or so, since the port has been built, fish have been less easy to find … The construction of the port has made a lot of noise, and the waves are stronger. It pushes the fish away. Now, after fishing, we come home with 70 to 80 kg [154-176 lbs] of fish.&#8221; A father of four in his 40s, Elong spends most of his time at sea, returning to the dock only on market days, Wednesdays and Saturdays, to sell his catch. But in recent years, he&#8217;s had less and less to sell. He says he has financial difficulties and struggles to feed his children. &#8220;At the present time we eat breakfast in the morning, and then in the afternoon and in the evening we struggle on like this, with nothing in our stomachs. We can&#8217;t do otherwise.” he says. Yet Kribi is renowned for its fish. Customers come from the cities of Douala, Yaoundé and Bafoussam to stock up. A decline in fishing could have dramatic consequences for the fishermen of Kribi as well as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/as-a-megaport-rises-in-cameroon-a-delicate-coastal-ecosystem-ebbs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280458</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Spotted softshell turtle release boosts reptile conservation in Vietnam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2024 15:58:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/04155011/Banner_Anna-Rauhaus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280675</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Farming, Forests, Habitat Loss, Herps, Hunting, Over-hunting, Overexploitation, Reintroductions, Reptiles, Rewilding, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam’s struggling population of spotted softshell turtles received a helping hand in December 2023 when researchers released 50 captive-bred hatchlings into a freshwater lake in a northern province. Now, new research indicates where further wild releases could result in the most conservation gains for the rare and threatened species, which was only described by scientists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam’s struggling population of spotted softshell turtles received a helping hand in December 2023 when researchers released 50 captive-bred hatchlings into a freshwater lake in a northern province. Now, new research indicates where further wild releases could result in the most conservation gains for the rare and threatened species, which was only described by scientists as recently as 2019. Spotted softshell turtles, Pelodiscus variegatus, were previously considered part of the genetically and morphologically variable Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis), a widely distributed species ranging from eastern Russia through China and Korea to Vietnam. However, scientists now classify Chinese softshell turtles as a species complex comprising seven separate species, one of which is the spotted softshell turtle. Although the orange-and-black-speckled turtles were described as distinct in 2019, frustratingly little is known about them in order to inform conservation actions, according to Thomas Ziegler, coordinator of nature conservation projects for Vietnam and Laos at Cologne Zoological Garden in Germany. “It’s actually a race against time, to discover species before they disappear,” Ziegler, who was involved in the scientific description of the species, told Mongabay in an email. “The joy of the discovery quickly gave way to worry — does it still exist, or has it already been extirpated?” One of the captive-bred juvenile spotted softshell turtles (Pelodiscus variegatus) photographed upon its the release into the wild in northern Vietnam. Image courtesy of C. T. Pham and T. Ziegler. Following the first scientific description of the species, Ziegler and his colleagues from Germany&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280675</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Riverine communities join forces to preserve threatened Amazon turtles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/riverine-communities-join-forces-to-preserve-threatened-amazon-turtles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/riverine-communities-join-forces-to-preserve-threatened-amazon-turtles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2024 16:41:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sibélia Zanon (text) and Julia Lima (video and photos)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/07163704/Turtles-in-tank_Details.06_09_52_14.Still001-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279639</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JURUTI, Pará state, Brazil — One of the little sand piles appears to be moving. Fábio Andrew Cunha opens the way with his hands, and a baby pitiú emerges from the nest. Measuring around 4 centimetrs (1.6 inches), the turtle passes its flipper over its right eye and then repeats the gesture on the left [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JURUTI, Pará state, Brazil — One of the little sand piles appears to be moving. Fábio Andrew Cunha opens the way with his hands, and a baby pitiú emerges from the nest. Measuring around 4 centimetrs (1.6 inches), the turtle passes its flipper over its right eye and then repeats the gesture on the left side. Its eyes must be cleared so it can see the new world. Seconds later, another baby turtle comes out. Living in one of the world’s most biodiverse biomes for chelonians, residents of Juruti have seen the number of turtles and other species plummet over the past few generations. Stories told by their ancestors and their own observations about that drastic reduction led riverside dwellers from 32 communities in the municipality of Juruti, Pará, to organize independently and voluntarily to preserve species such as the Amazon turtle (Podocnemis expansa), tracajá (P. unifilis), pitiú (P. sextuberculata) and irapuca (P. erythrocephala). Their work consists of watching the beaches at night from September onward, when the spawning season begins and females become more vulnerable. Afterward, community members collect the eggs from each nest and take them to a nursery or hatchery — a fenced sand area where the eggs are protected until baby turtles are born. Then they are placed in tanks until their release, which in 2023 occurred in early March. “Species are managing to increase their wild population in Amazon rivers as a result of basic community management work,” says Cunha, a chelonian expert from Juruti.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/riverine-communities-join-forces-to-preserve-threatened-amazon-turtles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279639</doi>				</item>
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