Egypt Tortoise |
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The Egyptian tortoise, small, tough and until recently a well known resident of the African desert. But humans have managed to do what a relentless baking sun cannot... drive the reptile to near extinction in the wild. Now to Egypt, to the deserts of the north, where a species is dwindling under the desert sun. The deserts of the northern Sinai peninsula are the natural home for the Egyptian tortoise. But you don't often see them here anymore. To find the largest Egyptian population you have to travel to a rooftop in Cairo. Sheriff Baha El-din is a leading Egyptian conservationist. He and is wife Mindy are leading the effort to save the Egyptian tortoise. "One day my husband came home with two big sacks full of dead and dying tortoises that he had accepted as part of a confiscation from a government raid on the pet market at Tunsi." Mindy Baha El-din, Conservationist. Although Sheriff has kept tortoises since he was a boy, the animals he brought home that day spurred him and his wife to start Tortoise Care a group dedicated to this: one of the smallest and most endangered tortoises on earth. "The Egyptian tortoise is extinct because there are so few animals. There are probably just little pockets of few individuals here and there and little patches of habitat. So in essence they are basically, biologically extinct." Sheriff Baha El-din, Conservationist. In better days the tortoise thrived on a little strip of scrub desert on the fringe of the Mediterranean from Palestine to Libya. Very small and sand-coloured it adapted over eons to desert life getting all of its water from the food that it eats. But the tortoise has not adapted to human progress. "There's been tourism development taking place along all coastlines in Egypt. Basically it's wall to wall development." Says Mindy Baha El-din. Another problem: even though the Egyptian tortoise ranks high on the endangered species list, protected under international and Egyptian law. In the local pet market they are always for sale for less than three US dollars. They're a favourite pet because they're thought to bring good luck. Many Egyptians, even the police, don't even know that buying or selling them is illegal. "People actually think of they want to go out and buy a whole bunch of animals to help have them. But in a way that encourages further trade." Says Sheriff Baha El-din. Most of these animals are smuggled in from Libya because there are so few left in the wild in Egypt. Mustafa Fouda, director of the Egyptian government's nature conservation effort, is trying to change attitudes with increased education and law enforcement. "People don't understand yet the concept of conservation. We do the best we can to make them understand the concept itself, even our own people." Says Mustafa Fouda, Director Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Nature Conservation. In fairness, some have always understood. Local Bedouins for years kept track of the wild tortoises while trying to keep others from hurting them. Now Mindy and Sheriff have enlisted their help. Soliman, a Bedouin, is in charge of caring for the last tortoise left in this protected area. "Our families in the past, my father and my grandparents, they used to say there were turtles in great numbers in this area and then they were gone. We don't know why." Says Soliman, Bedouin Guardian of Tortoise. Back in Cairo the race to save the species is gaining speed. These eighth graders are weighing, measuring and caring for Egyptian tortoises. On the rooftop Sheriff is carefully monitoring a clutch of tortoise eggs. He hopes they will produce tortoises which with great care, public education and protection might one day be reintroduced to the wild. Something that just may help this species reclaim its natural home. ?APTN |
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