Twenty Bolson tortoises were set free on Ted Turner’s property in New Mexico, where 23 of the tortoises already reside. It’s part of a plan to make sure they can survive on their own.
Conservationists are hoping to repopulate a rare species of turtle by letting them roam free.
Twenty Bolson tortoises were set free on Ted Turner’s property in New Mexico, where 23 of the tortoises already reside. It’s part of a plan to make sure they can survive on their own.
Chris Wiese of Armendaris Ranch told APTN, “in order to reestablish the population, we can't keep them protected at all times. So the releases are the essential step to getting them back on the ground and letting them be wild tortoises.”
The Bolson tortoise used to be found all over the southwestern United States, but experts say there are only about 2,500 of the tortoises left in the wild, predominantly in Mexico.
They say climate change has caused a reshuffling and dwindling of the population.
But these conservationists won’t be able to see the fruits of their labor.
They say the reproducing process is long for this species and it will be up to future generations to take stock of their work.
Mike Phillips of the Turner Endangered Species Fund says, “Bolson tortoise is so long lived that we've got to keep doing these things over and over and over again. If you can imagine a population of hundreds of tortoises, and that's what viability requires, a handful here and a handful there doesn't, that's not good enough.”
Martha Williams of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added, “this is this is so cool because we're thinking generationally, which is the way we should be thinking.”
