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Infosumbar.net – Balai Konservasi Sumberdaya Alam (BKSDA) Sumatera Barat telah mengamankan Kura-kura moncong babi (Carettochelys insculpta) dan Kura-kura baning coklat (Manouria emys), satwa tersebut akan dikembalikan ke Timika, Kecamatan Mimika Baru, Kabupaten Mimika. Provinsi Papua, pada Jumat (27/5/2022).

Sebelumnya satwa tersebut sudah diamankan dari seorang terdakwa dengan inisial MIH yang merupakan warga kota Payakumbuh yang diamankan langsung oleh tim Wildlife Rescue unit (WRU) BKSDA Sumbar bekerjasama dengan Ditreskrimsus Polda Sumbar pada tanggal 7 Maret 2022.

Adapun barang bukti yang sudah diamankan diantaranya 472 ekor Kura-kura moncong babi dari Papua serta 6 ekor Kura-kura baning coklat. Kemudian untuk barang bukti 6 ekor baning coklat telah di lepasliarkan di Taman Hutan Raya (Tahura) Bung Hatta yang mana lokasi tersebut berbatasan langsung dengan Suaka Margasatwa Bukit Barisan

Kepala BKSDA Sumbar Ardi Andono mengatakan kasus perdagangan ilegal Kura-kura moncong babi dan Kura-kura baning coklat sudah masuk dalam proses persidangan di Pengadilan Tinggi Negeri Payakumbuh.

Dalam sidang itu para saksi juga meminta kepada hakim untuk memberikan izin agar kura-kura moncong babi yang masih hidup bisa dilepasliarkan untuk kembali ke habitatnya.

“Kita berharap agar dapat dikembalikan ke Papua tepatnya di Timika melalui BKSDA Papua,” kata Ardi Andono.

Ardi Andono juga menjelaskan bahwa pihaknya juga telah melakukan kerjasama Balai Karantina Ikan dan BKSDA Daerah Khusus Ibukota (DKI) Jakarta untuk proses pengurusan transit nantinya di Jakarta.

Ia juga berharap agar penyelesaian kasus tersebut berjalan dengan lancar, dan pelaku mendapatkan vonis maksimal dengan tujuan agar menimbulkan efek jera terhadap penjual dan seluruh jaringannya.

Diketahui sebelumnya pelaku dan satwa yang dilindungi itu sudah diamankan oleh BKSDA Sumatera Barat dengan Ditreskrimsus Polda Sumbar, pelaku dan barang bukti yang didapatkan sudah diamankan pada Senin (7/3/2022) sekitar pukul 22:00 WIB di Kota Payakumbuh, Provinsi Sumatera Barat. (Ism02)

Sumber: www.infosumbar.net

Art and science came together in a zoology class project for Claire Parsley ’22, resulting in her water color-illustrated book, “How the Pig-Nosed Turtle Came to Be.”

The new zoology elective, taught by Sarah Mitch, appealed to Parsley as a student with many interests and an unclear path for the future. “I just like learning about everything, animals especially” she said.

“Squid, grasshopper, and worm dissections were fun for the non-squeamish students,” says Parsley, who doesn’t count herself in the “non-squeamish category. “Almost every student in the class used their tools to pull out select organs.”

Parsley chose to do a recent project on the pig nose turtle in watercolor storybook form because it “allowed me to come up with a goofy story and exercise my creativity, which I love to do.”

She learned, she says, that pig nosed turtles don’t experience loneliness, only lack of resources when they are separated from parents at birth. “I chose to make Morty the Pig Nosed Turtle a sarcastic and very tell-it-like-it-is type of guy,” she explains. “The book tells the story of him meeting a pig on land for the first time and his crisis that follows.”

The class is designed to be hands-on and experiential, says Mitch. “The hope is that students can experience learning as something that is fun, relaxed, and organic.”

This year’s COVID-inspired block schedule — four 75-minute periods per day — provided the “luxury” of building in a weekly field experience to the class that connected with what the group was studying in the classroom,  explained Mitch.

The class of 14 students in grades 10 to and 12 has visited a local farm to meet with farmers and see goats, pigs, and chickens; a pet store; Blue Ridge Community College to learn about the Vet Tech Program; and Silver Lake in Dayton, Va., to fish.

An upcoming fieldtrip will take the group to the Harrisonburg-Rockingham SPCA to volunteer. The class will culminate in a “critical look” at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

“As a teacher, I feel fortunate to have the flexibility to design electives that can be outside of the box, placing an emphasis on learning for fun,” says Mitch.  “It has been great to build the class community — with students who have varied interests — and to see the students dive in deep.”

 

Source : easternmennonite.org

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Funzo is a resident pig-nosed turtle at the National Aquarium’s Animal Care and Rescue Center. To celebrate his 28th birthday on Tuesday, the aquarium tweeted a picture of the adorable, introverted reptile to its more than 50,000 followers.

And then the comments came.

DISGUSTING
get rid of it https://t.co/uuRH9V5Zz4

— Speview – fat free (@ReviewerSpell) January 5, 2022

 

Thats an anteater https://t.co/Sgl4XRTvb3

— NICK (@nickgrodo) January 5, 2022

Even former Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith joined in. Smith eventually redeemed himself with a shoutout to the aquarium.

It’s #TurtleTuesday and we’re wishing a very happy 28th birthday to Funzo the pig-nosed turtle! pic.twitter.com/9rHhzaRYip

— National Aquarium (@NatlAquarium) January 4, 2022

Fortunately, Funzo didn’t see the tweets. All he feels is the love he gets at the care center, where he is a sort of celebrity, according to the aquarium.

Funzo has been with the National Aquarium since 2002 but has been out of the busy exhibit habitat since 2011. The aquarium said he much prefers a quieter space – his pool at the care center.

Animal Care and Rescue Center tours began with National Aquarium members in 2018, and while some Twitter users aren’t so kind, he’s a favorite with guests touring the facility, the aquarium said.

For each negative comment Funzo got – and there are a lot – a few diehard fans were born. Soon enough, Funzo had dozens of well-wishers, including Baltimore staples.

Not to get all political or anything, but Downtown Partnership is #teamfunzo #justiceforfunzo https://t.co/zhUOhEr5MW

— Downtown Partnership of Baltimore (@DowntownBalt) January 5, 2022

from one iconic nose to another…#justiceforfunzo https://t.co/OTdwZUivGA

— Babe Ruth Birthplace (@BabeRuthMuseum) January 5, 2022

According to EDGE of Existence, a global conservation program, the pig-nosed turtle is “the sole surviving member of its entire family, Carettochelyidae, and sits alone on a branch of the tree of life reaching back around 140 million years.”

Unlike other freshwater turtles, turtles like Funzo have flippers and a leathery shell, not to mention their snoutlike nose.

According to the aquarium, pig-nosed turtles are found in northern Australia, Irian Jaya and southern New Guinea. Funzo’s kind was once believed to be extremely rare but was found to be common in its range.

Funzo is an incredibly unique turtle with a storied lineage who prefers to mind his business in the swimming pool rather than engage with his detractors online. Baltimore is lucky to have him.

So please be nice to him.

 

Source : cbsnews.com

The pig-nosed turtle, an endangered freshwater turtle native to the Northern Territory and southern New Guinea, is unique in many respects.

Unlike most freshwater turtles, it’s almost completely adapted to life in water. It has paddle-like flippers similar to sea turtles, a snorkel-like “pig-nose” to help it breathe while staying submerged, and eggs that will only hatch when exposed to the waters of the wet season.

It’s also the last surviving species of a group of tropical turtles called the carettochelyids, which once lived throughout the northern hemisphere. Scientists thought pig-nosed turtles only arrived at Australia within the past few millennia, as no pig-nosed turtle fossils had ever been found here – or so we thought.

A five-million-year-old fossil from Museums Victoria’s collections has now completely rewritten this story. Discovered at Beaumaris, 20km southeast of Melbourne, this fossil lay unidentified in Melbourne Museum’s collection for almost 100 years until our team came across it.

We identified the fossil as a small section of the front of a pig-nosed turtle’s shell, as we report this week in the journal Papers in Palaeontology. Although the fossil is just a fragment, we were lucky it was from a very diagnostic area of the shell.

The fossil shows that carettochelyid turtles have been living in Australia for millions of years. But what was a pig-nosed turtle doing in Beaumaris five million years ago, thousands of kilometres from their modern range?

Well, in the past, Melbourne’s weather was a lot warmer and wetter that it is now. It was more akin to the tropical conditions in which these turtles live today.

In fact, this isn’t the first prehistoric tropical species discovered here – monk seals, which today live in Hawaii and the Mediterranean, and dugongs also once lived in what is now Beaumaris.

 

Source : lens.monash.edu

Pig-nosed turtles are found in tropical freshwater ecosystems in northern Australia and New Guinea, only arriving here a few thousand years ago.

But now, scientists have discovered a five-million-year old Pig-nosed turtle fossil in Melbourne, thousands of kilometres south from their typical home.

The finding is outlined in a study led by Monash University biologists, in collaboration with Museums Victoria, published today in Papers in Palaeontology.

Pig-nosed turtles are endangered, and the sole survivors of an extinct group of tropical turtles from the Northern Hemisphere.

The fossil housed in Melbourne Museum was discovered at Beaumaris, a bayside Melbourne suburb 20 km from the CBD, and completely rewrites the evolution of Pig-nosed turtles.

“Almost the entire evolutionary history of Pig-nosed turtles occurred in the northern hemisphere, with their present limited occurrence on the northern margin of Australia,” said lead study author Dr James Rule, from the Monash University School of Biological Sciences.

“The discovery of a five million-year-old Pig-nosed turtle fossil in Beaumaris changes this picture entirely,” he said.

It points to a broader pattern of turtles migrating across entire oceans in the ancient past to reach the once tropical waters of southern Australia.

“This one fossil specimen reveals a previously unknown evolutionary history of tropical turtles in Australia, and suggests we still have much to learn about the endangered Pig-nosed turtle,” Dr Rule said.

Five million years ago, the climate in Melbourne was far warmer and was home to turtles found only in the tropics today.

“Climate change in the last few million years eliminated these tropical habitats, leaving the northern Australasian Pig-nosed turtles as sole survivors,” Dr Rule said.

“Our discovery provides key insights into ancient climate change shaping modern species distribution.”

This fossil is the latest important discovery to come from the Beaumaris fossil site.

“We are so lucky in Melbourne to have such fossils right here in our own backyard,” said Dr Erich Fitzgerald, a senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria and co-author of the paper.

“The fossils at Beaumaris still have so much to teach us about our past, present and future.”

 

Source : onash.edu

Familier dengan nama labi-labi? Hewan yang juga sering disebut bulus ini adalah jenis kura-kura bercangkang lunak atau penyu air tawar cangkang lunak. Ciri khasnya adalah bentuk tubuh oval atau agak bulat, tapi lebih pipih dan tanpa sisik. Warna labi-labi biasanya abu-abu sampai hitam, tergantung spesies.

Salah satu spesies labi-labi yang unik adalah jenis labi-labi moncong babi. Hewan dengan nama ilmiah Carettochelys insculpta ini dalam bahasa Inggris disebut sebagai pig-nosed turtle, plateless turtle, atau pitted-shell turtle.

Labi-labi moncong babi merupakan hewan endemik Papua dan tempat perlindungan terakhirnya berada di kawasan Taman Nasional Gunung Lorentz. Sayangnya, hewan unik ini juga tak lepas dari ancaman perburuan, perdagangan ilegal, hingga yang paling parah kepunahan.

Karakter labi-labi moncong babi

Tak serupa kura-kura air tawar lain, labi-labi moncong babi tidak memiliki kaki untuk bergerak. Sebagai gantinya, ia bergerak menggunakan sirip seperti penyu dan bisa berenang bebas. Ciri khas hewan ini, sesuai namanya, terletak pada hidung yang seperti babi. Bagian karapas atau cangkang bagian atas berwarna abu-abu dengan tekstur kasar, sedangkan plastron atau kulit keras yang melindungi bagian dadanya berwarna krem.

Labi-labi moncong babi jantan dan betina biasanya dibedakan dari panjang ekor dan ukuran tubuh. Jenis yang satu ini bisa tumbuh sampai sekitar 70 cm panjang karapas dengan berat lebih dari 20 kilogram. Ia dapat hidup di air tawar dan payau, kemudian mencari makan di pinggiran sungai, danau, dan muara.

Untuk makananya sendiri biasanya tanaman, buah-buahan, ikan, dan invertebrata karena termasuk hewan omnivora. Kebanyakan mereka mengonsumsi buah ara, kiwi, apel, pisang, udang, cacing, hingga anak tikus.

Jenis kura-kura ini berkembang biak selama musim kemarau antara bulan Agustus hingga Oktober setiap tahunnya menjadi musim bertelur. Usai melewati masa musim kawin dan memasuki masa bertelur, labi-labi betina akan keluar dari air untuk menyimpan telur di pangkal air.

Jenis kelamin labi-labi ini pun sangat dipengaruhi suhu di sekitarnya. Jika suhu menurun setengah derajat, biasanya akan lahir labi-labi jantan. Sebaliknya, labi-labi betina biasanya lahir saat suhu meningkat setengah derajat.

Penyebaran labi-labi moncong babi

Habitat yang disukai labi-labi moncong babi ialah daerah sungai, muara, laguna, danau, kolam, hingga rawa yang dikeliling hutan lebat. Selain di Papua, penyebaran satwa ini juga pernah ditemukan di Papua Nugini hingga Australia.

Seperti kura-kura lain di lokasi terpencil, labi-labi moncong babi juga dipercaya telah langka. Meski demikian, belum ada data jumlah populasi yang tepat saat ini. Diketahui Australia telah melindungi hewan ini dari eksploitasi, tetapi dari Papua Nugini nampaknya belum ada tindakan konservasi. Labi-labi ini pernah ditemukan di Jepang untuk dijual.

Kehidupan labi-labi moncong babi dewasa membutuhkan kolam atau aliran sungai yang besar. Sedangkan, individu yang lebih kecil bisa hidup di kolam-kolam kecil yang memiliki tanaman dan dan tempat persembunyian untuk tempat berlindung. Suhu air pun harus dijaga antara 26,1-30 derajat Celsius.

Tak hanya suhu, kualitas air pun penting dijaga dengan adanya sistem penyaring biologi. Ketika kualitas air buruk, labi-labi akan berisiko mengalami gangguan kulit dari jamur atau bakteri pada bagian karapasnya. Ia tidak butuh tempat berjemur khusus, tapi harus ada akses ke tanah untuk betina dewasa agar bisa bersarang dan bertelur. Dalam sekali bertelur, betina dewasa biasanya butuh masa inkubasi 60-70 hari dan bisa bertelur dari tujuh sampai 39 telur.

Berada di bawah ancaman punah

Labi-labi moncong babi dengan segala keunikannya rupanya berada di bawah ancaman, bahkan di habitat asalnya. Keberadaan hewan ini terancam oleh perdagangan satwa ilegal. Bahkan, telah mencapai ribuan labi-labi diselundupkan dari Papua hingga ke pasar internasional. Ia diperdagangkan untuk menjadi makanan eksotis hingga pengobatan tradisional di China.

Bahkan, ribuan telur pun telah diambil langsung dari alam secara ilegal untuk ditetaskan karena memang belum ada penangkaran khusus.

Padahal, status labi-labi moncong babi ini secara internasional sudah ada di daftar endangered atau terancam, dan tercatat dalam International Union Conservation Nature (IUCN). Status ini agaknya jadi pengingat kita bahwa dua tingkat lagi akan menuju kepunahan.

Bahkan, labi-labi ini juga sudah masuk kategori Appendix II oleh Convention International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Artinya, spesies ini ada di daftar terancam punah bila perdagangan terus berlanjut tanpa adanya pengaturan yang jelas.

Di Indonesia sendiri, hewan tersebut masuk dalam daftar satwa dilindungi menurut Peraturan Menteri LHK No. 106/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/12/2018 tentang perubahan kedua atas Peraturan Menteri LHK Nomor P.20/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/6/2018 tentang jenis tumbuhan dan satwa yang dilindungi.

 

Sumber: www.goodnewsfromindonesia.id

Port Moresby Nature Park has celebrated a remarkable achievement for conservation with the successful release of 27 endangered pig-nosed turtles back into the wild.

This brings the total number of turtles released by the Nature Park to 45. The release wraps up a five-year conservation project managed by the Nature Park and funded by ExxonMobil PNG Limited (EMPNG) in collaboration with the Piku Biodiversity Network, University of Canberra and Wau Creek Conservation Area. This was the final release of turtles that were taken into the care of the Park, with 15 turtles released in September of the previous year.

Port Moresby Nature Park’s Curator, Brett Smith, explained that “the ‘Head Start program’ is where newborn animals are collected from the wild where their chance of survival in the wild is lowest. They are then safely cared for in suitable facilities while they grow bigger and stronger before being returned to the wild with a much higher chance of survival”.

Pig-nosed turtles are a freshwater species native to Northern Australia, Indonesian West Papua and Papua New Guinea. They are categorised as “endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species due primarily to illegal smuggling and overhunting.

From birth, their chance of survival in the wild is less than 1 percent as their tiny size, around 5cm, makes them vulnerable to predators such as fish, crocodiles and birds. It is also the reason that there is not much known about their behaviour in the earlier stage of life.

The return of the pig-nosed turtles was a carefully coordinated activity involving months of planning. Port Moresby Nature Park teamed with EMPNG, Tropicair, PNG’s Conservation and Environment Protection Authority, Local Level Government leaders, local community groups and Frank John, the local conservationist from Wau Creek Conservation Area, to ensure that the release of the 27 turtles went smoothly.

Tropicair flew the turtles from Port Moresby to Kikori, Gulf Province, accompanied by Brett Smith and Ishimu Bebe, Port Moresby Nature Park’s Wildlife Manager. They were specially housed in individual holding tubs to ensure that they travelled comfortably, before being transferred onto a boat for a 2.5-hour ride to Wau Creek where they had been collected five years earlier while still in their eggs.

“By our best estimates and in consultation with experts in this species, the program will increase their chances of survival in the wild to about 30 percent, significantly up from the 1 percent chance that they would have had without this conservation project,” Smith remarked.

“The return of these 27 endangered turtles back to their birthplace at Wau Creek was an emotional event for Mr. Frank John and family as well as for EMPNG. The strong partnership we have established has led to an important contribution to protecting the pig-nosed turtle,” said Julia Hagoria, EMPNG’s Biodiversity Advisor.

“This project highlights what PNG can achieve to conserve its unique biodiversity when communities, scientists, government and industry collaborate and partnerships come together.”

Port Moresby Nature Park’s CEO, Michelle McGeorge, noted: “Our special thanks go to all project partners and individuals involved, including PNG LNG Project who, through its ongoing funding support and commitment to bringing numerous partners together, enabled this conservation program to help save one of the most unique turtles in the world.”

ASIAN tortoises and freshwater turtles suffer greatly from illegal, unregulated trade, harvested to meet the demand for meat, use in traditional medicines, and for the pet trade. Somewhat worryingly, an increasing number of people worldwide are becoming more fascinated with keeping “exotic” pets.

Demand for these animals as pets comes from within a country where these species live, and abroad. One creature in trade internationally is the pig-nosed turtle, Carettochelys insculpta. Named for its its porcine snout, this turtle looks more like its sea-faring cousins with flippers similar to those of marine turtles.

It is found in only three countries, namely Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. And unfortunately, the rarer a creature is, the higher the premium attached to it commercially, attracting reptile enthusiasts and traffickers.

In a period of seven and a half years, researchers training their eyes on the trade in pig-nosed turtles identified 26 seizures totalling 52,374 smuggled turtles, occurring in or originating from Indonesia.

Monitor Conservation Research Society (MCRS) and the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group examined 2013-2020 seizures, looking at contemporary trade networks and hubs, mapped routes, assessed successful prosecutions, and in the process, flagged failures to utilise existing tools to better protect the species and anomalies in how legal trade in the species is permitted.

Indonesia emerged as the greatest source of the species entering illegal trade; Of the 52,374 turtles confiscated, 10,956 were seized in six separate trafficking incidents originating from Indonesia.

Amongst those countries was Malaysia, with two shipments intercepted by the authorities; one off Johor waters, with 3,300 individuals being smuggled by boat from Riau’s Bengkalis Island, Indonesia, while another, involving 4,000 turtles occurred off Sabah’s coast near Tawau.

This species used to be sold openly in pet stores but are now increasingly sold through social media apps. Until Malaysian laws catch up to include wildlife cybercrime, online traders will continue to exploit this loophole. Malaysia is also a transit point for the trade of pig-nosed turtles coming from Indonesia.

PUTTING TOOLS TO USE

Globally, a treaty called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) provides a means of regulating international trade in species threatened by trade, using a system of appendices.

The pig-nosed turtle is listed in Appendix II, which means trade is permitted only with required permits — but the individuals that were confiscated during the study period didn’t have any. Furthermore, it’s totally protected in Indonesia. Despite these legal protections, only nine of the 26 cases were successfully prosecuted, with the “success” arguable as none were to the full extent of the law: a maximum five-year prison sentence and a fine of US$7,132.

Offenders rarely received penalties close to the maximum — the highest prison sentence given was approximately half the potential maximum. As far as can be assessed, no one was charged for violations under the Customs Law (maximum penalty 10 years imprisonment and US$356,583 fine) or the Fisheries Act 31 (maximum penalty five years imprisonment and an US$106,975 fine).

“Indonesia has multiple tools in the form of legislation and regulations to serve as a strong deterrent, and ultimately to protect this species from over-exploitation,” says Dr Chris R. Shepherd, the study’s lead author, adding: “But tools are ineffectual if they’re not put to use.”

Protected species may be commercially traded in Indonesia if the specimens have been bred to a second generation in captivity, and only by traders with a license to breed these species. However, traders in Indonesia are known to abuse these regulations and launder wild-caught animals into the international market under the guise of being bred in captivity.

The possibility of bogus captive breeding operations, given the time and resources required in breeding pig-nosed turtles in captivity to the second generation, was also flagged in this recent study.

“In all likelihood, the turtles declared as captive-bred are all wild-caught or ranched, and falsely declared as being captive-bred to circumvent restrictions and enable export to countries where the checking of the source of the imported animals is lax,” points outsays Dr Vincent Nijman, the co-author of the study.

NEED FOR ROBUST STRATEGY

The authors also question how more than 5,000 pig-nosed turtles were exported as wild-caught, in direct violation of Indonesia’s own legislation, including 80 into the United States of America, in violation of the US Lacey Act.

The vast majority were destined for mainland China and Hong Kong. Elevating this species to Appendix I of Cites would assist the range states in obtaining stronger cooperation from other Cites Parties, as species listed in Cites I are generally prohibited from international commercial trade, and in some countries, penalties for trading in Appendix I listed species are often higher.

Clearly, Indonesia is in urgent need of a robust strategy to effectively tackle this trade along the trafficking chain. The country has legislation and infrastructure that should be utilised to punish the wildlife criminals, and ultimately, better protect the pig-nosed turtle.

Malaysians too have a role to play in ending the illegal trade in pig-nosed turtles. We need to come together to help raise awareness of this issue, and not be a part of the problem by buying pig-nosed turtles.

If we see pig-nosed turtles for sale, or know of someone keeping one as a pet, we have to report it to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Hotline at 1-800-88-5151 (Mon-Fri office hours) or the 24-hour MYCAT Wildlife Crime Hotline at 019-356 4194.

It’s time to play our part!

Illegal wildlife trade, seizures and prosecutions: a 7-and-a-half-year analysis of trade in Pig-nosed Turtles Carettochelys insculpta in and from Indonesia by Chris R. Shepherd, Lalita Gomez and Vincent Nijman was published in Global Ecology and Conservation.

 

Source: www.nst.com.my

Despite battling a lack of visitors because of the coronavirus pandemic the Port Moresby Nature Park continues to forge ahead with the rehabilitation and rescue of Papua New Guinea’s animals.

The Park’s chief executive Michelle McGeorge said in August visitation was down by 70 per cent.

“In order to sustain operations ideally we need 100 per cent capacity so we did launch a GoFundMe campaign in June,” she said.

The online fundraiser has so far raised more than $200,000 which is just over half what Ms McGeorge says the park needs to operate.

“Our target was to pay for 10 months of our wildlife expenses,” she said.

“I’m not only responsible for 550 animals but at the end of the day I’m responsible for 70 staff and their livelihoods.”

The park accepts injured and surrendered wildlife in the hopes of rehabilitating them and releasing them back into the wild, or keeping them in the Park as their ‘forever home’.

One type of animal the park has spent the last five years rehabilitating is the endangered pig nose turtle.

The freshwater turtle, named for it’s snout-like nose, is hunted for it’s ‘uniqueness’ by illegal pet traders.

The Park hatched 47 turtle eggs and helped grow the population until releasing some back into the wild last year, and the rest this year amid the pandemic.