More than 200 critically endangered royal turtles will be moved to a new center in Koh Kong’s Mondol Seima district today with 13 Siamese crocodiles also being relocated. Eng Mengey, communications officer for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said royal turtles were now facing threats to their survival because of habitat loss.
 

A total of 206 turtles, including babies, will be transferred to the new center as well as 13 Siamese crocodiles. He added that the new Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center was founded by the WCS and Fisheries Administration (FiA).
 

The royal turtle, also known as the southern river terrapin (Batagur affinis), was designated Cambodia’s national reptile in 2005. It was listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature earlier this year and added to their Red List of Threatened Species. Mr. Mengey said the royal turtle was believed to be extinct in Cambodia until 2000, when the WCS and FiA discovered a small number of the turtles in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district where the river meets the sea.

 

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29655/royal-turtles-get-new-home/

 

 

-- © Copyright Khmer Times 13/09

Good news.

Outstanding and so close to us! We wonder for which Royal these terrapins were named, as well as the Siamese croc.