Tennessee Canter for Biodiveristy has created an online action alert regarding Tennessee turtle harvest, to make it easier for individuals to send a message to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission.
See http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27781 Please have your conservation organization send in your own letter rather than a form letter - this will be much more effective with the commission. It is especially important for groups in Tennessee and neighboring states to weigh in. Arkansas The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will also discuss our turtle harvest ban petition on Thursday, August 20th in Little Rock. See http://www.agfc.com/commission/commission-agenda.aspx. If you are in Arkansas, please attend this meeting and speak out for turtle protection! Please write to the Arkansas Commission and urge a complete ban on commercial turtle harvest in Arkansas. Commissioners: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Talking points: Contaminated turtles harvested in Arkansas are being sold domestically as food, and are exported in increasing numbers to international food markets. Many of these turtles are harvested from streams under fish advisories due to aquatic contaminants that are carcinogenic or harmful to humans, such as DDT, PCBs, pesticides, mercury, and other heavy metals. Turtles can bioaccumulate much greater levels of aquatic contaminants than fish. The consumption of contaminated turtles is a substantial public health risk. Freshwater turtles cannot sustain any significant level of harvest from the wild without population crashes, because commercial collecting of wild turtles intensifies the effects of water pollution, road mortality, incidental take from fishing, and habitat loss, which are already causing turtle declines. Interstate and international wildlife exporters and dealers are exploiting Arkansas laws allowing turtle harvest. State wildlife agencies in Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Alabama have recently prohibited commercial take of freshwater turtles from the wild due to turtle population crashes. Wildlife biologists from these states are recommending that neighboring states also prohibit harvest, since wildlife traffickers are stepping up harvest in unregulated states and illegally trapping turtles in states where they are protected and claiming they were collected in states where harvest is still legal. Please act immediately to end all commercial harvest, sales and export of wild turtles, both from public and private waters, for wildlife protection and health reasons. ***************************************
