Help Stop Tortoise Smuggling

action alert!

Illegal trafficking of two critically endangered tortoise species from Madagascar has reached epidemic proportions. Authorities must clamp down on this wildlife smuggling before these species are completely wiped out.

Dear Friends, 

Numerous wildlife and conservation groups are urging authorities in Madagascar to crack down on the illegal smuggling of tortoises before they become extinct. According to James Deutsch, WCS Executive Director for Africa Programs, "This level of exploitation is unsustainable. Unless immediate action is taken to better protect the wild populations, their extinction is imminent."

Political unrest and erosion of cultural protection of the tortoises has led to this dramatic increase in smuggling. It's been reported that more than 1,000 radiated and ploughshare tortoises were confiscated from smugglers in the first three months of 2013 alone. 

According to INTERPOL, only 10 percent of smuggled wildlife is seized by authorities, so the real number of tortoises smuggled out of Madagascar is astronomically higher than we even realize. 

Protecting these tortoises is crucial to the ecological balance in Madagascar. Reproduction is a very slow and difficult process for tortoises, so killing even one has a ripple effect of depleting future generations.

Tell the authorities in Madagascar to protect ploughshare and radiated tortoises before they disappear.

Thank you for taking action, Colleen H.  Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team