Reply from Tesco

[Geomyda]

For those who have yet to read the article published by Care for the Wild International:
Scientists and Veterinarians Oppose Tesco Turtle Sales Back



Care for the Wild International together with 27 leading veterinary, scientific and chelonian authorities and professional bodies wrote to Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy urging him to stop selling turtles and bullfrogs in China on conservation and animal welfare grounds.



China’s hunger for turtle meat has sparked an acute extinction crisis. By selling freshwater turtles for food in its Chinese outlets, Tesco is facilitating the demise of these species.

Tesco either butchers frogs and turtles in store or sells them alive for customers to slaughter at home. CWI’s opposition focuses on animal welfare concerns related to farming, transport, display and slaughter, and the conservation impact of turtle consumption as a whole.



After assessing information provided by CWI last June, Tesco removed hardshell turtles from sale because it is not possible to access the animal’s head for decapitation without breaking the shell. Tesco also added crushing the skull to decapitation as a slaughter method to reduce time to death.

ANIMAL WELFARE
Veterinary and scientific guidelines explicitly state that decapitating turtles is inhumane and not recommended. “Decapitation has been deemed unacceptable as a sole method of euthanasia for chelonians and is only acceptable when reptiles are rendered unconscious by other methods,” says Dr. Wilbur Amand, Executive Director of The Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians and Executive Director of The American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition. “Decapitation may sever the head from the body,” explains Tortoise Aid Director Annie Lancaster, “but reptiles are capable of surviving prolonged periods of anoxia (absence of oxygen from the brain) for an HOUR (or more) after decapitation.” Turtles killed this way will experience awareness and severe pain. According to Dr. Richard Gibson, Head Curator of Herpetology at the Zoological Society of London, decapitation “is only marginally better than the live disembowelment and butchery going on in the live food markets.”


CWI investigators who visited 32 Chinese Tesco stores in April and May discovered that staff do not adhere to Tesco’s new slaughter policies.
In 12 stores where CWI witnessed slaughter firsthand, staff continued to kill turtles by decapitation alone or by evisceration. CWI also found large numbers of disembowelled turtles with intact heads for sale. When asked, Tesco staff confirmed that turtles are killed through decapitation, and customers requesting advice on home slaughter were told to cut off the turtle’s head and legs.



CWI compared turtle slaughter methods in Tesco with those in a local Chinese market and found them to be no better. Tesco has no control over the behaviour of customers who wish to buy live turtles for home slaughter. Common methods include live dismemberment, evisceration or boiling the animals alive.


In a Tesco store in China’s Guangdong Province, CWI observed how staff caught a turtle and started to cut its head. “The turtle pulled back into the shell,” says Dr Maas, “so staff cut the shell along the edge. The turtle broke loose and was caught again after about a minute. Staff then sliced the still living turtle in half separating the upper and lower part of its shell. In another scene, Tesco staff cut the turtle’s abdomen from tail to neck with a pair of scissors. The turtle extended its long neck and its extremities struggled. Tesco staff then added a traverse incision and pulled out the entrails.” CWI also saw Tesco staff skinning bullfrogs alive. “Scientists agree that this is utterly unacceptable and can not be considered humane under any circumstances.”

Bound up tightly in plastic netting, live turtles are mostly displayed on ice, which is inappropriate and causes pain. CWI says that although Tesco acknowledged this fact a year ago, the practice continues.
Three quarters of Asian tortoises and freshwater turtles are threatened with extinction as a result of human consumption. China alone consumes some 20 million turtles a year. “International trade in live turtles to supply the Chinese markets has also decimated wild populations in many other countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, New Guinea, Indonesia, India, and even the USA,” says Kevin Buley from The European Association of Zoos’ & Aquaria’s (EAZA) Shellshock Turtle & Tortoise Conservation Campaign.



Although Tesco claims all its turtles are farmed, staff told CWI that some turtles on sale were wild caught. Research by Dr. Shi Haitao from the Chinese Academy of Sciences confirmed that farming threatens wild populations. “In the long term turtle farms serve no function beyond generating profit for a few entrepreneurs. The existence of an enormous, largely unregulated, turtle-farming industry creates additional and serious challenges for turtle conservation. In addition wild-caught turtles fetch significantly higher prices than farm-raised turtles, and no amount of captive breeding will decrease the desire for wild turtles. It is unlikely that the black market turtle farms could ever be controlled.”

Prof. Darrell Senneke, a leading authority on tortoises and turtles and Director of the World Chelonian Trust told CWI, “When an adult turtle is removed from the wild, it is not just that turtle that is being removed, but also the reproductive potential of that animal over a breeding life that may exceed 50 years. As a result, removal of even a few adults from a population can result in the decline and eventual loss of the entire population.”

“Turtle farms themselves still have a huge demand for wild caught specimens to ensure that the fecundity of the animals in the farms remains high,” says Dr. Buley. “Farms that don’t regularly ‘top-up’ their breeding stock with fresh wild caught animals, very quickly notice a drop-off in egg and hatchling production. The growth of turtle farms, the regional and international trade and now, the availability of these non-domesticated animals in large supermarket franchises, is having a catastrophic effect on the remaining fragile wild populations of many species.” “The cruellest aspect of turtle sales by companies such as Tesco is the extinction of populations and species worldwide,” says reptile expert Prof. Harvey Lillywhite.

Tesco’s Corporate Responsibility Policy states the company is “committed to conducting business in an ethical and socially responsible manner” and uses “up-to-date knowledge of research, ethics, scientific facts and legislation to ensure this happens”. “Twelve months ago CWI provided Tesco with all the science and expert opinions needed to reach a decision” says Barbara Maas. “But Tesco refuses to accept facts. Undeterred by science and its own policies, Tesco insists on maintaining an untenable position. This is irresponsible and unreasonable, and no amount of denial, corporate spin and excuses will change that.”