The TSA provides funding and technical support to two critical species conservation initiatives in Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Cambodia. Rick Hudson (TSA) and Paul Calle, VMD (WCS) worked on these projects from 20 – 31 August 2006, facilitated by WCS’s field offices in Yangon and Phnom Penh. The five primary goals for this trip were to 1) inspect the construction progress on the new Burmese roofed turtle,

Kachuga trivittata, breeding facility at Mandalay’s Yadanabon Zoo, 2) train Yadanabon Zoo vets on transponder (PIT tags) implant techniques, and 3) inspect the recently completed river terrapin (Batagur) headstart facility at Sre Ambel, 4) review husbandry procedures and 5) train staff on PIT tag technology. Highlights of the trip are as follows:

After meeting with the WCS office in Yangon, the team flew to Mandalay and went straight to work. A captive nucleus of eight (3.3.2) wild-caught Kachuga trivittata are maintained at the Yadanobon Zoo where a new facility is under construction, funded by TSA, WCS and the British Chelonia Group (BCG). An additional 16 hatchlings were brought down from the Upper Chindwin River, part of 88 hatchlings from 8 nests/200 eggs collected from the last know nesting population.

Zoo veterinarians Tint Lwin and Thaw Thaw Lin were trained by Dr. Paul Calle in microchip implantation and were quick to learn the procedure. With this technology under his belt, Tint will now travel up the Chindwin River to implant the remaining 72 hatchlings; some will be released and others will be headstarted in a new in situ riverine facility, now under construction. All eight of the wild-caught group were caught up for evaluations and all were implanted, weighed, measured, and bled for genetics. We look forward to the day soon that this group will move into the new facility, now ~70% complete and due for completion in early October. The facility will feature a large breeding pond with ramped up nesting area, an anchored basking platform, biological filtration pond, and a grow-out facility for juvenile rearing and isolation; the entire facility will be fenced for security.

We began hearing last year of a planned dam on the Upper Chindwin that would likely flood the last remaining know breeding population of this rare and highly endangered turtle and had been working under what we thought was a ten year time frame. We learned on this trip that dam construction has already begun and that completion is five years away. This adds a new degree of urgency to our efforts to save this species, and places a greater burden on the captive population.

There is now a sense of immediacy for us to determine how to breed and manage this species in captivity and answer some tough questions such as: how many facilities need to be built, how large should the captive numbers be, and what options are available to restore the wild population? Recent Landsat image projections indicate that the all sandy nesting beaches will be under water. Will this sandy beach nesting species adapt and nest in other habitats (doubtful) or can artificial sand bars or islands be created? A Species Recovery Plan workshop to address these issues is being discussed and should take place in 2007. Meanwhile members of the WCS turtle team will be visiting river turtle conservation programs in Malaysia (Batagur baska) and India (Kachuga kachuga) to learn other perspectives and techniques for nest translocation and egg incubation and their impacts on hatchling sex, growth and survival. The stakes could not be any higher nor the pressure greater, to quickly understand this species to the degree that we can successfully manage them both in captivity and hopefully the wild.

We traveled the next day to the Burmese star tortoise facility at Minsontaung where we met with Director Mint Shwe. This is a remarkably successful facility where, from 2001 – 2006, 187 hatchlings have been produced, 90 in 2006 alone. Unfortunately this facility has had some thefts in recent years and security should be improved.

looked at new plans for improvements and discussed costs. It appears that a new facility with better security fences will be built in the near future, to be funded collaboratively by TSA, EAZA Shellshock and Conservation International.

We returned to the zoo in Mandalay around 6 PM, near dark, to learn that ~2100 turtles had been seized up on the China border and deposited at the Yadanabon Zoo. Worse they had been dumped in the pond that holds the group of eight K. trivittata; fortunately the trivittata had been removed first.

Using flashlights we were only able to get a glimpse of the sad and grim sight of so many turtles piled up and disoriented. Four species were represented: 501 softshells (Lissemys scutata) and 1677 hardshells (including 311 Indotestudo, a handful of Cyclemys (two taxa) and the rest Morenia ocellata). The worst feeling, however, was knowing that we had to fly out at midday the next day, and would have precious little time to triage these turtles and train the vets on emergency medical care. Unable to change our tickets, we got to the Zoo early the next AM and”jumped into the fray”. We first moved the trivittata to the elephant pool (unused by elephants fortunately), and then began work on the confiscation. Working quickly we sorted the Indotestudo into two groups, healthy and not.

The 260 “apparently” healthy tortoises were moved to an empty fenced yard behind the tiger and bear facility which could not have offered a better environment for stressed tortoises had we designed it. A grassy yard with large clumps of bamboo provided a good place for recovery. The remaining time was used to buy drugs and veterinary supplies for the vets to use after we left; funds were also left for plastic tubs and anything else needed to treat sick turtles. We caught a midday flight back to Yangon, briefed the WCS office on our activities, and then took a night flight back to Bangkok.

From there it was on to Phnom Penh Cambodia early the next morning. The purpose of this visit was to inspect the recently constructed headstarting facility for Batagur, a joint project of WCS, TSA and EAZA Shellshock. Batagur was formerly widespread along coastal areas in Southeast Asia and India but populations are now severely depleted and extinct in numerous areas. Thought to be extinct in Indochina, a remnant breeding population was rediscovered on the Sre Ambel River in 2001 and has been the subject of intensive conservation measures including nest beach protection, public awareness aimed at local fishermen and river patrols. The project is well integrated with the local communities on the river and provides former turtle hunters with an alternative source of income. The number of nesting females is small and each year hatchlings are collected, marked and released. Unfortunately there have been no recaptures or signs of recovery, not surprising give the short time span. However given the importance of this population, the decision was made in 2005 to become more proactive and to find funds for a headstart facility. In 2006, 47 Batagur hatchlings were collected for headstarting, and construction got underway shortly thereafter. The facility was completed in July 2006.

We drove three hours southwest of Phnom Penh, towards the coast, to the town of Sre Ambel. Accompanying us were Heng Sovannara, WCS’s Cambodian coordinator for the Batagur project, and Som Sitha of the BP turtle conservation team. We had two primary goals: review husbandry for the Batagur in this facility, and train staff on PIT tag implant techniques.

The new facility was impressive though the turtles had not been moved into the concrete tanks yet due to concerns that lime leaching and elevated pH might cause health problems. So currently the Batagur are in plastic tubs. Husbandry procedures exceeded our expectations and upon weighing we found that each had doubled to tripled in size since hatching. Robust and active, these turtles are fed Ipomea greens (water spinach or water morning-glory) ad libitum, with water changes twice a day. We offered them Mazuri aquatic turtle pellets and they accepted, and we have recommended that this be incorporated into their diet at least once per week. Paul implanted PIT tags in most of the turtles while training Heng. The importance and benefits of this technology required little justification. Recall that early this year a lucky male Batagur was confiscated in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam that carried a PIT tag identifying it as from the Sre Ambel population. “Lucky the turtle” was able to be returned to his “home river” amid considerable fanfare and international public attention.

In every sense of the word, this trip was about capacity building, that is transferring knowledge, technology, techniques, literature and training to those on the front lines that are best empowered to use this information. One of the primary roles that TSA can serve is to identify workers in range countries that are well positioned to impact turtle conservation, and then give them the tools to do the job. Resources go a long way in most Southeast Asian countries, and it does not require large amounts of cash to make a difference. Finally we want to acknowledge the donor that makes so much of TSA’s work in Southeast Asia possible - the Batchelor Foundation. Last year’s $100,000 grant has TSA either supporting or working directly on turtle conservation projects in ten countries.

Rick Hudson

TSA Co-Chair