A group of animal rights advocates are to embark today on a 10-day nationwide bicycle tour to promote public awareness of the yellow-margined box turtle, whose numbers have rapidly declined because of poaching.
Seven bikers led by a conservation team of National Chung Hsing University researchers, along with a turtle mascot, are to depart from the Taipei Zoo today, with scheduled stops in Yilan, Hualien, Tainan, Taichung and New Taipei City to teach the public about the protected species.
Wu Sheng-hai (吳聲海), a biology professor at the university, said that the yellow-margined box turtle is generally found in low-altitude forests in subtropical regions and is the box turtle native to Taiwan. However, its population has decreased to one-fifth of its number a decade ago because of poaching.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Growing demand from China for the turtle, which is used in traditional medicine, has given rise to rampant poaching and smuggling, Wu said.
To date, authorities have seized more than 10,000 yellow-margined box turtles from smugglers, Wu said, adding that the number of confiscated yellow pond turtles, another protected species, has exceeded 5,800.
This year alone, authorities have intercepted more than 3,000 protected turtles, he said.
Wu said that current punishments for poaching and smuggling of protected animals are too lenient — usually entailing a fine of tens of thousands in New Taiwan dollars — but no one has ever been convicted of the crime in the past 10 years.
This, coupled with a diminishing government conservation fund, has made poaching a lucrative business and seen an increasing in the number of big smuggling syndicates, Wu said.
Although New Taipei City has established a conservation zone for the species at the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫), there is no known safe habitat for yellow-margined box turtles, as their preferred habitat overlaps with human activities, making them an easy target for poachers, he said.
Describing the government’s conservation effort as ineffective, Wu said that the bicycle tour is being held to teach people not to purchase or consume products made with protected animals.
When threatened, the turtle retracts its head, limbs and tail into its shell and bring its lower portion, the plastron, up to its carapace, inspiring the name box turtle, he said.
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