The size of this paper precluded posting as one item, however, to understand this complex problem and the affect it is having on Wild populations, it needs to be read in context:
Turtle Farming and Wild Caught Animals
As mentioned in the past, farmers depend on wild caught animals to supplement breeding stock. The breeding potential of turtles on farms decreases significantly over time and will be exhausted after two to three seasons, depending on food (e.g., lack of calcium for females) and other environmental factors. After this period, turtles enter a ‘resting period’, during which they will not reproduce. Introducing wild turtles with a fresh, strong, healthy constitution and a far superior capacity to breed maintains the economic viability of turtle farms.
Expertise in identifying turtle species is almost completely lacking in China. The situation is made worse by the presence of accidentally or deliberately farm-bred hybrids (see below), which are often passed of by farmers as separate species to achieve higher rarity value, as well as by the general inability to differentiate between farmed and wild caught individuals. The reality of this situation is illustrated for example by the ‘research’ commissioned by Tesco in China in 2006 and the continued unresolved question of which species are sold in Chinese Tesco stores.
Some 80 turtle species are sold as commercially farmed in China. However, less than one third have been farmed successfully. Chinese regulations stipulate that only second generation offspring is considered captive bred or farmed. Ensuring compliance of this regulation, however, is a very different matter. Prof. Shi’s research has found no evidence of multigenerational breeding. Experts agree that if this rule was to be adhered to, trade in farmed turtles would have to be closed for at least 10 years.
Supplementing Farm Breeding Stock
Adult brood-stock may be acquired from the wild, either from native local populations or through regional and international trade in wild-harvested turtles. Stock management at most Asian turtle farms is haphazard. As a rule, additional breeder animals from varying sources are added whenever convenient. Records or reliable documentation of stock acquisition and stock movements are non-existent. As a result, verification of farms as captive breeding operations in the sense of CITES Resolution Conf. 10.16 (Rev), whereby closed-cycle reproduction to the second captive-bred generation is required, is unrealistic.
From a farmer’s perspective, wild caught turtles are more cost effective and, if sold on, allow for immediate profit without the layout of rearing costs. Farmers buy wild turtles cheaply from hunters to sell them on for a profit or integrate them into their farm’s breeding stock. Prof Shi stressed that farmers will also sell on wild caught turtles illegally to trusted customers. These include restaurants, which are able to pay higher prices, which are then recouped from clients.
Turtle farms require large amounts of space and take a heavy toll on the environment. One of these is caused by the absence of water filtration systems. Used (and often contaminated) water from farms is simply discharged, which is extremely wasteful utilization of what is increasingly becoming a limited resource in China and elsewhere. Waste water from turtle farms also contains chemical contaminants, including antibiotics and growth hormones.
There is no evidence that farms are sustainable in terms of either breeding or sales. To make turtle trade sustainable and to prevent farms from acting as a front for illegal trade of wild-caught turtles would require strict regulations as well as the capacity to enforce them. However, experts, including Prof. Shi, consider the latter utterly unfeasible.
Turtle Farming and Invasive Aliens
where they have the ability to establish themselves, invade, outcompete natives and take over the new environments. They are widespread in the world and are found in all categories of living organisms and all types of ecosystems…. The threat to biodiversity due to invasive alien species is considered second only to that of habitat loss. They are thus a serious impediment to conservation and sustainable use of global, regional and local biodiversity…. Invasive alien species can cause significant irreversible environmental and socio-economic impact at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels. Their management costs include not only costs of prevention, control and mitigation, but also indirect costs due to impacts on ecological services” (Convention on Biological Diversity:
http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/cro...en/default.asp).
Wildlife farming on a significant scale almost inevitably results in animals eventually escaping. If a species is not native to an area, escapees pose potential threats to local species and the wider environment. The Convention on Biological Diversity recognizes “game ranching” as a possible means of introducing invasive alien species, and calls for environmental impact assessments and adoption of a precautionary approach when planning such developments.
Species most suitable for productive farming are those with faster growth and high reproductive potential. These are the same characteristics that enable populations of these species to grow explosively in the wild, at which point they are defined as “invasives”. Invasive species can cause ecological disruption and threaten native species if they can successfully establish themselves in the new area. Typhoons, which have damaged farms, and will have facilitated the escape of turtles, have hit the southern part of China twice in recent times. Chinese soft-shelled turtles (Pelodiscus sinensis), which have escaped from farms in Malaysia are reportedly out-competing the slower-breeding and less aggressive native turtles. Coypus (Myocastor coypus) which escaped from fur farms in Britain were responsible for wide scale local extinctions of the native European otter (Lutra lutra). Invasive species may also introduce exotic diseases and parasites that threaten native fauna and domestic livestock. For example, avian malaria was brought into Hawaii via exotic pet birds, and devastated native bird populations.
Turtle farming in China involves indiscriminate crossbreeding of different species from Asia and other parts of the world. These practices have resulted in a host of hybrids and ‘super-hybrids’, which incorporate the genetic material of three different species. One example of deliberately bred hybrids from Chinese turtle farms is a new species of Chinese red-eared slider. Hybrid turtles are bred in farms, passed off as highly prized rare species they resemble to be sold for medicine, food, and private collections. Hybrid turtles have even been described as new species, obfuscating turtle taxonomy and conservation efforts.
The Use of Growth Hormones & Fluid Injection
As far as farming Chinese soft-shell turtles (Pelodiscus sinensis) is concerned, growth hormones are widely used to speed up size and weight increase. Turtles are sold by weight and/or size. The introduction of growth hormone as a food additive enables farmers to sell their animals faster and achieve higher prices, while minimizing costs (feeding, husbandry etc.). According to Prof Shi, this has led to cases of permanent infertility in women as a result of turtle consumption.
A different practice employed to artificially increase the weight and thus the price of turtles prior to sale involves injecting water into the turtles’ tissue or body cavity prior to sale. Needless to say this is unacceptable from a veterinary and animal welfare point of view.