Thank You WVF in 2001

WVF Grants $1024 Support For Cuc Phuong Conservation Project's TURTLE and TORTOISE CONSERVATION. WVF members are paying US $ 1,024 from the WVF year 2001 fund to pay for new accommodation, food and medicines for Indochinese tortoises and turtles protected by the CPCP until they can be safely released in the wild. PICTURES

The WVF democratically selected the project for funding in May, 2001.

This is WVF's second year of funding to help protect tortoises and turtles in Vietnam from the highly destructive trade with China. Almost all the wild Chelonians in Vietnam are commercially hunted out, Vietnam now acts principally as a trade conduit from Kampuchea and Laos to China. Laos is not yet a CITES signatory country. Sadly, the prices will only rise as the turtles become harder to find, fueling the trade to death. It is already economically worthwhile for some people to specialize in turtle hunting, even if they find only 3 or 4 turtles per year - or just one 'Golden Turtle', Cuora Trifusciata.

Each year thousands of wild turtles and tortoises are illegally traded internationally. Many are threatened with localized and general extinction, all suffer inordinately in the trade and slaughter processes. Traditional Chinese medicine uses turtle shell by boiling it down to a gluey paste. Some species are very highly sought after, Cuora Trifusciata for instance, is believed to cure cancer, and people will pay US $1,000 for a single turtle. WVF believes that if this species of turtle has genuine medicinal power -then it should be farmed, if not - then people should not be tricked into wasting their money. Money better spent on actually alleviating final sufferings through painkillers, or even on funerals. Its strange (and irritating) that the superstitious and frequently erroneous beliefs in animal parts having medicinal value survived the cultural revolution.

The Cuc Phuong Conservation Project is a small, but efficient NGO based in Cuc Phuong National Park in northern Vietnam, about 160km drive south of Hanoi. The project leader is Douglas Hendrie, a devoted and capable American who loves the country, its people and its wildlife and is working with local staff in local communities to generate ecological awareness and develop conservation ethics. He is facilitating the Vietnamese to establish their own conservation priorities and grass-roots management plans rather than trying to impose foreign ideas from 'on high'. Good man! About Doug Hendrie.

Education Programme

The CPCP are developing local expertise. Currently few Vietnamese know much about the turtles. Nguyen Bihn the Vietnamese is the most knowledgable Vietnamese Chelonian expert. The awareness aspect has been very successful and is now the main thrust of the project. There are 2,000 students in their Environmental awareness program in all the surrounding local communities. 34 teachers, 30 local staff are involved, they are funded by BP Statoil alliance, Ausaid, (Big funders). Canada Fund, British and German Embassies - smaller funders. They produce nicely written and beautifully illustrated children's books: The Kitchen God Came Late (about the knock-on effects of deforestation and importance of forests), and The Turtle Who Wanted To Go Home (about the trade problem).

A snappy new Visitor's Centre oriented to conservation education paid for by Ausaid is being built now. The goal is to educate the visiting public, each year: 40,000 Vietnamese visitors come to the park, 70%of whom are students. 2,000 foreign visitors come - mostly tourists.

The CPCP is helping to build a Muong Style Eco-Tourist lodge to enable the locals to benefit more from visitors and to give visitors a nice base for local exploration and contact with the community.

Alongside the only successful breeding program for the indigenous Owstons Palm Civets, the CPCP has the only rescue and rehabilitation project for Indochinese Chelonians.

This turtle project has a 2,800 m2 enclosure, built in Sept. 1998. That offers a safe and pleasant area to keep Chelonians confiscated from the wild trade and to breed them. Doug works for Fauna and Flora International and the project is funded by Columbus, Melbourne, Tenesee and Toronto Zoos.

The turtle project's annual budget is about $5,000 , it cost just $1,200 to set up the facilities.

Old enclosures on the other side of the road from the new enclosure are used for quarantine. These are well vegetated, because without shade turtles will die. Turtles just in from the trade are stressed and sometimes physically battered. They are kept in disinfected plastic basins, fed and monitored. The CPCP use antibiotics and worming during quarantine. Then they are then transferred to pleasant vegetated enclosures and concrete tanks in the main area.

Nguyen is the Vietnamese turtle man. He is dedicated, efficient and friendly. Separate people bring grasshoppers, worms, fish ,and snails to feed the Chelonian guests. Giant African Groundsnails introduced in WWII by the Japanese occupation forces are now a local pest species and turtle delicacy. These are crushed and mixed with pond weeds for a tasty nutricious mash. Good calcium for shell growth and repair.

The CPCPS Wishlist.

They need an MSc volunteer to make a long term study of turtles.

They want to fence off a hill for tortoises to live safely and freely. This would only cost about US $4,000.

The 4 new aquatic tanks for Arcadius anamensis only cost $300. The CCP need funds for expanding their accommodations to provide for incoming Chelonians. The WVF party and slide show raised ¥18,000 for this purpose, The Old Chelonians hope to raise more, and I hope that WVF will grant $1,000 to the project.

The CPCP is developing a network of Rangers on the borders to collect turtles, but there is not enough safe space to hold them all. Their centre would fill up in just two months of confiscations at the current rate. Sadly, a lot of shipments are still getting through to China.

This is the place to see turtles in Vietnam. Most Indochinese turtles are semiaquatic. At time of writing CPCP protects:

1. Male Vietnam Bigheaded Turtle. Platysteron Megacephalum Shiui.

2. Yellowheaded Temple Turtle. Hieremys Annandalii.

3. Softshells completely submerged under sand. Locally called Baba Gai. Softshells are farmed and eaten locally, there are 4 species in Vietnamam, hard shells are too expensive to eat locally - so are sent to China by professional specialist sellers.

4. Smiling turtle - rarity , secretive and low numbers. Market value : 50,000 dong per kilo, 45 dollars per kilo, It doesn't have much reason to smile at the moment.

5. Muranamese Anamensis is a high conservation priority.

6. Four-eyed turtle. Has a beautiful plastron (lower shell). They have four at the centre.

They have two out of the three true box turtles in Vietnam.

7.Cuora Amboinensis, the Southeast Asian Box turtle.

8. Cuora Galbinifrons, the Indochinese box turtle (Vietnamese call it Zoohop) 50,000 per kilo, native to Cuc Phuong. A stress species which needs careful treatment.

9. Yellow Pond Turtle. Mauremys Mutica.

10.Testudo Elongata. Elongated Tortoise. There are a lot in the trade.

11. Blackbreasted Leaf Turtle - pop-eyed little charmers, with beautiful shells to blend in with rainforest leaf litter.

12. Malayan Snail-eating turtle.

Also Giant Asian Pond Turtles. Heosymis Grandis. Orange headed temple turtles - badly scarred from trade. Will eat loads of water Hyacinths - the answer to choked waterways in the region?