Venezuela fights to save endangered Arrau turtle

08 May 2003 By Tomas Sarmiento, Environmental News network-Reuters

ON THE ORINOCO RIVER, Venezuela — It may be South America's largest fresh water turtle, but when the green-lacquered amphibian is young, it fits in the palm of a hand and looks like the ideal aquarium pet.

The Arrau turtle is threatened with extinction, so every year conservationists in Venezuela collect thousands of the hatchlings, raise them in captivity, and then release them into the wild to try to guarantee the survival of the species.

Hunted for their meat and eggs by native Indians and other residents living along the banks of Venezuela's mighty Orinoco River, the population numbers of the species known in Latin as Podocnemis expansa have been decimated over the last century.

"The problem is basically human. Residents of the region have a strong tradition of eating the eggs, eating the newborns and the adult turtles," said Omar Hernandez, coordinator of the government-funded program to save the turtles.

Although the species has been legally protected since the 1960s, turtles are sold at local markets for nearly $100 each. The region's poor inhabitants, mostly farmers, simply go to the river and catch them to enrich their meager diet.

For the last 11 years, Venezuela's Scientific Development Foundation FUDECI has spearheaded the project to raise and release young Arrau turtles into the Orinoco River. The release point is a sun-baked, sandy islet in southwest Venezuela, where the Orinoco flows between the isolated and jungle-covered states of Apure and Bolivar.

During the 19th century, German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt estimated there were at least 300,000 adult female turtles, Hernandez said. Today, despite the prohibition on hunting, only about 1,000 female adults lay their eggs on the jungle islands and beaches of the Orinoco, one of the world's largest rivers.

A small team of biologists, ecologists, and government officials annually takes thousands of recently born turtles from the river to a nearby breeding center to protect them for a year and strengthen their chances of survival in the wild.

INTO THE WATER

When they are born, Arrau turtles are the size of a coin and easy to catch. Avid predators include not just local fishers but also a long list of wild creatures such as the catfish, the heron, and the black-and-white "cari-cari" hawks that swoop over the banks of the river.

When freed, the young turtles measure a more robust five inches in diameter and are safe from most of their natural enemies. "We can avoid the high mortality rate, and the animals are much more likely to escape," Hernandez said.

The Arrau turtles that inhabit the basin of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers are also found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, and Peru. When fully grown, they can reach about one yard in length.

The FUDECI project financed by the government has released about 120,000 Arrau turtles into the wild since it began, including 16,000 freed during the latest operation in April. Next year, Venezuela expects to release about 50,000 turtles into the Orinoco River, one of the key spawning areas for the turtles, Environment Minister Ana Elisa Osorio said.

The government hopes the project will help take the Arrau off the endangered list. The turtles reach sexual maturity around age 15, so in the next three years, some of the turtles raised briefly in captivity should start to breed.

COLOMBIAN BROTHERS

Venezuela is studying joint conservation projects with Colombia since the turtles often swim across the border between the two Andean neighbors, said Colombian Environment Minister Cecilia Rodriguez, who attended April's turtle release.

"This is a species of habitual migrants. Without a doubt these turtles released here will pass through the River Meta and say hello to their Colombian brothers," the minister said.

The proximity of the border with war-torn Colombia is evident. Journalists, officials, and project members who witnessed April's release operation reached the islet on National Guard patrol boats bristling with weapons.

But Angel Brito, one of the turtle project pioneers, is less worried about border tensions than about preserving the planet for his children. "Our greatest hope is that our children and grandchildren can get to know this important species, the hope that we can save a species," Brito said as he watched the last few turtles paddle slowly into the swirling currents of the great river.