The Tortoise Project - it is slowly, all coming together...
FREEME Wildlife, A Rocha South Africa, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, SANBI, Dr Robert Campbell, and other interested parties are involved in a collaborative effort to reintroduce tortoises back into the wild. This has been painstakingly worked on over the past few years, and finally we can see the light.
Presently legislation does not allow for the release of tortoises that have been kept in captivity back into the wild. On one hand this is to protect the wild populations from genetic mixing through interbreeding with individuals from uncertain genetic backgrounds, and to protect wild populations from exposure to pathogens they have no natural immunity to; pathogens that will put the entire wild population in an area at risk. On the other hand, it leaves wildlife rehabilitation centers with growing numbers of tortoises in care that cannot be released.
We love what we do, and how we do it.
We cannot do it alone! Let's pull together to help our wildlife:
Become a FreeMe Wildlife Custodian -
https://www.freemewildlife.org/custodian
Donate (it takes 10 minutes of your time) -
https://www.freemewildlife.org/donate
Have a look at our website for other ideas of how you can help -
www.freemewildlife.org
Pictured here: This was a 10 hour day for the FreeMe Wildlife team working on this project - tiring, but rewarding, as we are now one step closer to ethical release protocols for tortoises. We do have an amazing team, always willing to go the extra mile. And while this was on the go, we still kept the full FreeMe Wildlife centre running with all the other patients under our care.
More about FreeMe Wildlife