Endangered Box Turtles

fragmented and contracted by roads and developments for ever-expanding human habitation, an eastern box turtle population can no longer sustain the added insult of pet collection."

Belzer argues that just because you frequently see adults doesn't mean the species isn't at risk. Birds, fish and mammals, he explains, can appear abundant during surveys but this can be because they are able to move over large areas and can rapidly repopulate an area both by emigration and reproduction. Box turtles just don't travel far or fast, it takes them 10 years to reach reproductive maturity, and the egg and hatchling survival rate is poor.

Maryland, New Jersey and New York have laws against collecting box turtles, according to MATTS, which requests that Pennsylvania prohibit turtle collecting. MATTS rightly points out that because PA hasn't banned collection, people caught with box turtles in neighboring states can claim they got them in PA. This helps keep the pressure on turtle populations in those states, as well as in PA where collectors could indeed go to bag their catches.

The Box Turtle Coalition of the Northeast (BTCNE) also has written the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission requesting that it change the policy on collection. BTCNE is an educational organization that advocates legislation and policies conducive to box turtle survival in the wild. BTCNE's goal is to educate people about the plight of box turtles and other turtles so they will make choices that will help them survive. BTCNE also supports a regional turtle conservation strategy.

Dave McShaffrey, of the Biology Department at Marietta College, keeps box turtles, but implores others not to keep them and explains that Turtles Make Lousy Pets. He gives the following warning to wood-be box turtle collectors:

For several years, I have been rescuing box turtles from Washington County roadways. Most of them are immediately released to the far side of the road; but, in 5 cases, I have kept the turtles for longer-term observation. Since I'm an entomologist, not a herpetologist. . ., the observations I record here will be somewhat less scientific than one might expect in Copeia, but more scientific than most of what I have seen on the web. I want to caution you here that eastern box turtles are different critters than their southern and Asian counterparts and that some of the care instructions I have seen on the net will harm the animals. These turtles make

The copyright of the article Endangered Box Turtles in Environment is owned by Kenneth Friedman. Permission to republish Endangered Box Turtles in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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