Is Tortoise-Breeding creating a Time-Bomb?

Big Ol Tortoise

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I look at it like this . The sulcata in its home rang is hurting . Here in America it's numbers are great . So this tortoise will live on for generations . We need to get more of the tortoises that are disappearing in the wild into breeders hands . Home breeders produce and have more successful breeding rates than most zoos . The tortoise we have in our hands will never disappear from the plant .
Sulcatas help the ecosystem they live in (obviously) I'd be cool if we did something for them similar to the Galapagos where people would raise the baby's then release them.... maybe that wouldn't work since the Sullys still have predators unlike the Galapagos and Aldabra where the only predators to them was humans and now human is protecter. Just my thoughts :p
 

mike taylor

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Man I need to start spell checking better . To late now . I couldn't agree more . I'd gladly pay the shipping cost to send my sulcatas back to Africa . People like Tomas over there are doing wonderful things for the tortoises . I personally don't breed my sulcatas . But red footed tortoises I hope to produce some of them . So far I've only gotten one baby .
 

Tidgy's Dad

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Man I need to start spell checking better . To late now . I couldn't agree more . I'd gladly pay the shipping cost to send my sulcatas back to Africa . People like Tomas over there are doing wonderful things for the tortoises . I personally don't breed my sulcatas . But red footed tortoises I hope to produce some of them . So far I've only gotten one baby .
I'm in Africa!
Free sulcatas please, Mike. ;)
 

tortoise5643

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Man I need to start spell checking better . To late now . I couldn't agree more . I'd gladly pay the shipping cost to send my sulcatas back to Africa . People like Tomas over there are doing wonderful things for the tortoises . I personally don't breed my sulcatas . But red footed tortoises I hope to produce some of them . So far I've only gotten one baby .
Would shipping them over and releasing be possible? I'd guess it wouldn't be allowed since it could pass parasites to wild populations. They would need a complete check up from a professional which would cost a lot I assume.
 

mike taylor

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Would shipping them over and releasing be possible? I'd guess it wouldn't be allowed since it could pass parasites to wild populations. They would need a complete check up from a professional which would cost a lot I assume.
I don't see why we couldn't breed for relocation .
 

JoesMum

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I don't see why we couldn't breed for relocation .
We can only do that if we know the origins of our animals.

Where captive breeding programmes exist for reintroduction they carefully manage the parentage of the youngsters reared so that there is certainty of health and breed.

A reintroduction wouldn't simply use <insert species> by contacting people who bred them. A lot of research would need to be done first. Most of us couldn't even start to trace the wild origins of the tortoises we own. Scientific research might not be able to reveal it.
 

Tom

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Would shipping them over and releasing be possible? I'd guess it wouldn't be allowed since it could pass parasites to wild populations. They would need a complete check up from a professional which would cost a lot I assume.

It is a very very involved process with a lot of testing, vetting and permit granting done many times along the way, but it can be done. It should also be understood that many tortoise diseases are not easy to diagnose, even with thousands of dollars of testing and diagnostics per animal. An animal can look and seem healthy to an expert or vet and pass every test administered, but still be carrying a disease that could wipe out a population in the wild. Some diseases organisms and pathogens can only be found in a detailed necropsy performed by a person with lots of experience who knows what they are looking for.

Reintroduction is being done with sulcatas over there in Senegal, but its a big deal. In addition to the disease potential, origin questions, government permission issues, the main problem tends to be dealing with whatever caused the problem of wiping out the species in that area in the first place. Poaching for a variety of reasons, habitat destruction and encroachment, pollution, natives feeding their families, introduced predators like rats or feral dogs and cats, introduced competitors for the same foods like cattle, goats, etc… If the original problems are not dealt with and corrected, it will do no good to re-introduce a species.
 
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