Natural History Wanderings

In a drastic move to save rare tortoises from poaching, conservation organizations are engraving identification codes on the tortoises' shells. This greatly reduces the tortoises black market value and makes it easier for enforcement agencies to identifyand trace traffickers. You learn about these efforts at the Turtle Conservancy: » World’s Rarest Tortoises to Lose Face Value Turtle Conservancy News.

The LA Times also covered the story at:Rare tortoises are branded to make them unattractive to poachers – latimes.com. The Times also listed a number of examples of illegal Turtle poaching and trade:

• A week ago, Indonesian officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta rescued more than 8,000 baby pig-nosed turtles hidden in suitcases and believed headed for China and Singapore.
• In December, Royal Thai Customs officials confiscated a suitcase containing 62 rare radiated tortoises at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
• In November, authorities in a Thai airport discovered 432 protected tortoises and 52 black pond turtles worth about $110,000 in unclaimed luggage arriving from Bangladesh.
• In March, authorities seized 54 ploughshare tortoises found in the suitcases of two individuals attempting to enter Thailand.
• Golden coin turtles have been selling for thousands of dollars each since poachers recently started claiming that consuming extracts from the species could cure cancer.