Global News - July 2007
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Texas turtles exported to China
Mon 23 July 2007 18:15 UK — North America
Many thousands of turtles native to Texas are being exported to Asian countries where their meat is considered a delicacy.
The problem, conservationists believe, is that there are few restrictions on how many turtles can be removed from the state which is putting dangerous pressure on populations.
Between 2002 and 2005 267,000 wild turtles left Dallas bound for Hong Kong, Reuters reports, citing US Fish and Wildlife Service figures.
"They are taking them so fast the scientists can't study them," environmental lawyer and lobbyist Chris Jones told the news agency.
A slow maturity process combined with the high mortality rate of young turtles means that populations struggle to recover over-exportation.
"Their population can't take the removal of adults," Lee Fitzgerald of Texas A&M University told Reuters. "If it continues, the population will collapse."
Most species of marine turtles are already endangered. Malaysia recently announced plans to clone leatherback turtles in a bid to boost population numbers.
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