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Haitao, S.; Parham, J.F.; Lau, M.; Tien-Hsi, C.
Farming Endangered Turtles to Extinction in China
2009 Conservation Biology: 1-2
Turtles are facing a global extinction crisis that is particularly acute in Asia because of China's insatiable demand for their meat for soup and shells for traditional Chinese medicine (van Dijk et al. 2000; Turtle Conservation Fund 2002). International conservation efforts, still grappling with the scope of the crisis, are also faced with the revelation that large commercial turtle farms are operating in China. Our investigations reveal that the scale of these operations, especially that pertaining to endangered species, vastly exceeds all predictions (van Dijk et al. 2000; Shi & Parham 2001; Shi et al. 2004) and that there are over 1000 farms in China worth over a billion U.S. dollars (Shi & Provincial Forestry Bureau for Endangered Species Import and Export Management Office of China, unpublished data). We submit that these lucrative farming operations are a major threat to the survival of China's diverse turtle fauna.
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