tortoisetrustforum.org

Common sense. They are obviously not easily influenced by rhetoric and hysterical publicity.

Good.

Andy

http://massacomune.ilbello.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=569:solo-i-ballasina-sono-colpevoli-le-motivazioni-della-sentenza-sulla-gestione-del-carapax&catid=39:rassegna-stampa&Itemid=61

An updated report from Dec 18 on this long-running saga...

Andy

An interesting insight from an Italian Forum:

folks
Without wishing to detract from this thread but rather augment it please also look at this

http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/forum/ ... 240&page=6

Rom

Can anyone throw any light on what an Official CITES centre is?
Re: tortues lentes???????
Datum: 05. Feb 2010 12:01



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The situation of CARAPAX in Italy

After the continous attempts of stealing the centre itself with its animals, its breeding and research programmes and its mobile structures, by the local comunità montana. After the disastrous and illegal actions against the CARAPAX personnel, the responsable and owner of CARAPAX, the International RANA Foundation decided to move the whole centre elsewhere and to split it up according to CARAPAX 3 mean activities:

1. the biological and didactical international Mediterranean station CARAPAX, as created in 1989 on behalf of the European Union will continue its breeding, rescue and reintroduction programmes of Mediterranean Chelonia and other Mediterranean fauna like Storks and the Tuscan Mount Amiata donkeys. The Mediterranean taxa concerned are Emys, Mauremys, Testudo, Eurotestudo or Agrionemys, Trionyx, Rafetus, Caretta, according to what has been published in the Red Data Book on Mediterranean Chelonia ( 1995 Coproduction EU-RANA-Edagricole). The management of the tortoises will gbe continued by RANA itself, while the European Pond Turtles are of the competence of EMYS CONSERVATION. By consequence CARAPAX will not continue to accept all kinds of exotic wildlife, as this aspect was the main reason of all kind of criticism and it caused also the financial problems. The release programmes, worked out by the biologists of CARAPAX in 2003-2004 have been completed, reducing the Testudo species from around 2000 animals till 500. The same was done with the Emys and Mauremys, reducing the numbers from 900 to 300. The last Caretta caretta has been brought to the specialised Biological marine Station at Naples.

2. RANA International has withdrawn between 2005 and 2009 all (sub)trpocial chelonia and other reptiles from the biodiversity station at CARAPAX of Massa Marittima. These animals are being placed in other official CITES Centres abroad, and managed directly by the different RANA experts.the new CARAPAX will therefor not host them again, except for some tortoise species for which the mediterranean climate is suitable.
For its biodiversity programmes, RANA intends to create the TORTUCA project for tropical herpetoafauna. TORTUCA stays for TORtoise and TUrtle Conservation Alliance. It will be an alliance between private partners, zoos, conservationists and conservation centres.

3. the rescue activity of all kind of chelonia remains a problem, that will even become bigger for the rescue centres as soon as the new EU Directive concerning alien species will be operative.
RANA will try throught the different CITES centres to organise a coordinated intake programme. This programme will exclude the TORMED centres (like CARAPAX), who will not accept American sliders and similar species anymore. Much will depend on the copperation with the CITES management authorities, in Italy the Corpo Forestale dello Stato. At present some 30 snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), 8900 red eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans), 1200 yellow bellies (T.s.scripta) and some 500 other sliders (Pseudemys species) remain at the former CARAPAX centre. A solution have to be found in the country of origin: the USA.
LE VOICI! BIEN A TOI
pourrais-tu m'envoyer un ABSTRACT
in English de ton article sur la situation présente
de CARAPAX ?

MERCI INFINIMENT,

Alain

There is no such thing as an "official CITES centre" to my knowledge.

Andy

Andy,
I am trying to get this checked out with various sources in Europe.
Thanks for looking at it though.

Paul,

The structure of the CITES organisation is very clear:

http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/org.shtml

To call something an "official CITES centre" implies (to my mind, at least) that such would be PART OF the CITES organisation, or (as an absolute minimum), fully endorsed by the CITES Secretariat. For a while I was a member of the Species Survival Commission Tortoise/Turtle special interest group, and nothing of the kind was ever even on the agenda. It did not exist. Running "centres" where animals are kept was not and is not part of CITES defined role. Neither is endorsing private centres.

So - I remain totally in the dark as to what could possibly be meant by use of such a phrase.

It does sound impressive, though

Andy

"RANA intends to create the TORTUCA project for tropical herpetoafauna. TORTUCA stays for TORtoise and TUrtle Conservation Alliance. It will be an alliance between private partners, zoos, conservationists and conservation centres."

http://www.schildpad.eu/index.php/nieuw ... sults-2008
Announced officially in the Autumn of 2008, I have tried a many occasions to get details of this and establish exactly who intends to fund it?

Posted today on the CARAPAX website:
CARAPAX
remains closed because of moving.
We're sorry for any inconvenience

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CARAPAX is the latin name for the shell or carapace of turtles and tortoises, and it is the name for the European project for conservation of Chelonians.



The CARAPAX project is really European because of the participation of several European institutions and NGO's and at first the European Union with the former European MEDSPA programme (Mediterranean Special protection Action). The turtle, symbol of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) of the United Nations (UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme) is dangerously threatened with extinction in the Mediterranean.


The turtle, or better the 17 species of Mediterranean Chelonians (3 marine species, 6 fresh water species and 8 terrestrial species to be correct) are rapidly vanishing, even if since the '80 there are various national laws and EU Directives that protect them. But laws aren' enough: someting more should be done. At international level several there are initiatives. Also in italy, since the end of the '70 ties, begiining '80 herptetologists and naturalists are working to stop and to invert this decline and the risk of extinction. And so, during 1987, European year of the Environment, was born the CARAPAX project, approuved by the Italian Ministry of Emvironment (July 1988) and by IUCN (December 1988) and by the hosting Tuscan region (December 1988) as a Mediterranean Special Protection Action of the EU.the project has been worked out by yhe international scientific foundation ,RANA (Reptiles and Amphibians in NAture), with headquarter in Brussels, with reperesentation NGO's in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The very solid basis are the 40 years of experience of the Belgian initiative of the "Charles Darwin Foundation" at Sta Cruz, Isabella, on the the Galapagos Islands, Equador. In 1964 under the leadership of Prof.dr.R.Van Straelen it was decided to start the breeding of the giant tortoises of the Galapagos, which was already quite rare and that couldn't reproduce anymore because of habitat destruction and predation caused by man-introduced domestic animals (rats, pigs, goats, dogs). Some specimens of the rares forrms of Galapagos giant tortoises were moved to tha Charles Darwin Station on Isabela for a breeding and so called head starting programme. The were kept separated according to Island of origin.The babies grow up in nurseries till 4-6 years: Then -omce big enough that predators can't eat them anymore -they are set free on the Island of origin. At the same time an eradication programme of all man-introduced animals is being worked our on the different Islands. The programme has excellent results: over 2,000 hatchlings have been reintroduced, the man-introduced animals are almost all eliminated and the original vegetation is growing again.








At the CARAPAX centre we work with the same methods, with the same scientific rigor, with the same marking system of Ian Thornton, with the same Belgian bases as at the Galapagos. Our tortoises of course are smaller. The whole technique has been studied at Galapagos by prof. R. Willemsen, who is still guiding CARAPAX' field studies since 1989.


The turtles and tortoises at the CARAPAX biodiversity station are not taken in the wild: most of them come from donations, from persons who realise the absurdity of keeping tortoises on a balcon and who bring them to us, or they come from confiscations, most from Italian and other European authorities. Another difference with Cahrles Darwin station is that at CARAPAX we take also care of marine and fresh water species.




Scarica la mappa del Carapax