Florida turtles (or are they from California?) are proliferating in the "roubines" in the "site of le Méjean, in Lattes, a town close to Montpellier. Unscrupulous owners have got rid of them by throwing them in the roubines. The result is a lot of turtles have to be killed because now no zoo wants them any longer (there are too many of them).
The one I photographed yesterday will probably be soon sacrificed unless a good-hearted person calls and says he or she wants to adopt it.
Les tortues de Floride, ou de Californie, prolifèrent sur le site du Méjean, à Lattes, tout près de Montpellier. Des propriétaires peu scrupuleux sont venues les jeter dans les "roubines" pour s'en débarrasser. Résultat, il faut en détruire. Plus personne n'en veut.
La tortue qui se dorait au soleil hier va probablement être bientôt sacrifiée, à moins qu'une bonne âme n'appelle la Maison de la Nature ou ne lui écrive pour dire "je veux l'adopter".
Maison de la Nature
MAISON DE LA NATURE
Tél. / Fax : 04 67 22 12 44
Courriel : nature@ville-lattes.fr
Can't they be let out in the wild?
RépondreSupprimerLa vie sauvage à Montpellier c'est possible? Sans parler des aquariums qui deviennent vite petits...
RépondreSupprimerI saw your comment on Scottsdale (Arizona, USA) Daily Photo and found your site, and I am glad that I did.
RépondreSupprimerI am running a series of photos for the last week or so about Tortuguero, Costa Rica, which is the most important nesting site for sea turtles in the Caribbean. It is sad that your turtles are not being saved, as in Costa Rica we have made huge efforts to save sea turtles.
In Tamarindo, on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica where my Daily Photo site is based, we have the most important beach that is the nesting site for Pacific leatherback turtles. The government is actually expropriating land near the beach so people will not build homes with lights to confuse or disturb the turtles.
In both Totuguero and Tamarindo people are not allowed on the beaches at night where the turtles lay their eggs, except in small numbers under the control of a park ranger.
Ca en dit long sur votre climat ! Veinards.
RépondreSupprimerMarie,
RépondreSupprimerThank you for your comment and for visiting my blog. Your explanation that the turtles are not native and are destroying native plants makes sense and makes me feel better.
I agree with you that it is a bad practice to introduce non-native animals. I lived in Hawaii as a child, and many of the beautiful, tropical bird population was destoyed (including the extinction of unique species) because they imported mongeese to fight the non-native rats who had escaped from ships and were eating sugar cane fields. A problem was that the rats were nocturnal and the mongeese forage for food during the day. The mongeese therefore furned to the eggs of tropical birds for food.
Similarly, in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America, they imported beavers from Canada to try to start a fur industry. The temperature did not get cold enough for the beaver pelts to reach a commercial grade. Without any predators, however, the beavers have wiped out lots of trees and are ruining some of the forests.
My wife has already signed up as a follower of your blog, so I have now signed up also. We love France, and spent our honeymoon there.
Try as I might, I can't translate "roubines".
RépondreSupprimerPerhaps it's the lake between Frejorgues and Palalvas.
But I certainly appreciate this turtle's affinity with water.
We are both very similar in that respect, Marie.
Maybe I'll end up in a zoo ?!
I would not have thought turtles like this could survive if they were domesticated at one point. It is good you bring awareness to this issue. I am glad you enjoyed the cactus on my site. In answer to your question, yes, these cactus also grow what are called tunas and those turn into flowers.
RépondreSupprimerOur children had turtles for pets years ago.
RépondreSupprimerI think my favorite turtle is "Crush" in the Children's Movie, Finding Nemo.
I hope some of these turtles get adopted.
LOL:Wanda
How did Florida turtles get over there. Where we used to live, people would catch them in the canal behind our building and cook them.
RépondreSupprimerThey decimated the turtle population.
Il y en a également dans le bassin du jardin des plantes. C'est moins loin que le Méjean quand on veut s'en débarrasser !
RépondreSupprimeroui, beaucoup d'enfants veulent leurs tortues et puis après, on les retrouvent dans nos rivières ;o(((
RépondreSupprimerHow sad for the turtles--the pet stores shouldn't sell them. Too bad they can't be sent back to where they would live in nature. I mean back to their native habitat where they are supposed to live.
RépondreSupprimerNice capture.
Too bad people don't know how things like that affect the world around them.
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