Turtle in retreat.
This is a repost of my photo of a Sonoran ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata luteola) that I spotted at San Pedro House in Cochise County, Arizona. Today I'm adding an important conservation message. When I posted this shot on another social media platform I received this message in reply: "I have one 💜 🥰 " I don't know the circumstances of this person's possession of an ornate box turtle. For all I know the animal is a rescue, found injured from a run-in on the road. But I am pretty sure this is not the case. Chances are that the turtle is kept as an exotic garden ornament, probably well-fed and cared for, but not quite a pet, and certainly not living its best wild life. Sonoran ornate box turtles are critically threatened in their range. Like all such threats, in the end the causes are manmade. Essential habitat is lost to development or degraded by agriculture and ranching. Turtles are stressed by ongoing climate change that alters their surroundings more rapidly than they can adapt. Migration paths are disrupted by roads and other landscape level changes. They are accidentally run over by cars, or worse, mowed down by joyriding men and boys who take sick pleasure in destroying reptiles with their trucks. In the case of Sonoran box turtles, possibly the greatest threat they face is being taken for the pet trade. Removing these turtles from the wild has been banned since 2005, and it is illegal to traffic in them. Greedy, unethical collectors still find a way, and ignorant people still buy them as pets. A quick google search took me to several sites where they are offered for sale. All of these factors have contributed to a steep decline in their numbers. These turtles can live between 50 and 100 years. But given their very low reproductive rate, removing even a few turtles from their natural environment can have devastating consequences to their overall numbers and survival. I wonder if the person who enthused about their pet has considered this: Bringing a turtle home is a life sentence for the turtle, since captive turtles should not be returned to the wild, where they can transmit parasites and diseases that jeopardize local turtle populations. Laws have likely been broken. A species is imperiled, and a whole ecosystem impoverished, because that turtle's reproductive potential is now effectively zero – during its long lonely life there will be no baby turtles. Your wild pet means the world is a little poorer for all of us.
