Retha Hofmeyer Passing

[Sterant]

Retha Hofmeyer passed away last week. Retha was one of the foremost researchers on South African tortoise species and was involved with a number of rescues in South Africa. She was a professor at the University and wrote endless research papers on the Tortoises of South Africa, including Chersina angulata. Her work was instrumental to my starting of the CAWG. I never got the chance to make it to South Africa and meet her though I know a few people on the forum have. We did correspond over the phone and via email on a fairly regular basis as I was working towards my first successful hatching of Chersina angulata in the US.

Her loss is a loss for the worlds conservation efforts and the tortoises of South Africa.

Dan

 

[JThompson]

Dan,

I am just seeing your post now, but yes it was horrible to hear of her passing. I was fortunate to make it down to the cape to meet Retha and Ernst Baard in 2018 at the tail end of a Kinixys-focused trip. She was a gem of a human and instrumental in protecting South African chelonians. Her work with geometricus is unparalleled and I hope that someone can pick up that work and keep it going. Her study with Chersina incubation was also really neat! She was a huge supporter of the RSA Kinixys work that is led by Flora Ihlow. Truly a huge loss for the planet as a whole.

I posted a message on your recent hatchling thread, but it would be great to touch base with you.

[email protected]

Jeremy

 

[Tom]

I missed this post too. Sad. I hope her contributions will live on through the efforts of those she taught.