CARAPAX

remains closed because of moving.

We're sorry for any inconvenience

                                  CARAPAX NEW SEASON 2010-

                                   CARAPAX   ON THE MOVE!

The 21^st season of Carapax will probably be one of the most difficult ones in its history. Due to the hostile political situation in Massa Marittima involving  discrimination and  even the discrediting of the  Carapax staff and the attempt to  lay claim to structures and animals , it was decided to relocate the site  and to divide the work amongst  three centres.

1.The new Carapax centre will continue the work  of the original biological field station:  a didactical and biological Mediterranean  station in situ  for the study, breeding and re-introduction in the wild of Tuscan, Italian and Mediterranean   herpefauna  and avifauna, mainly chelonians and White Storks.  Five different  locations are on   offer but we hope Carapax can remain in the Maremma  region, the land of chelonians.

2.The rescue centre  for aquatic / confiscated animals, mainly  American fresh water turtles, will also be moved . A new centre will be created in collaboration with the private sector ; it will remain in Italy and will not be open to the public.

3.The tropical chelonians were moved  by RANA from the original Carapax site during Spring 2009. They have been placed in safe environments and are in the hands of various experts. Eventually a new Cites centre will be set  up. However, Italian law was not conducive and an international solution has not proved possible. It has therefore been decided  to set the centre  up  in Belgium.

Transferring thousands of animals was not an easy task as these vulnerable  creatures are closely tied  to their environment. 600 allochtone reptiles were transferred in 2009 to several sister organisations in various European countries.

The existing 2004 release programme for Mediterranean tortoises  was accelerated  and resulted in reducing   the number of breeding stock and juveniles  kept at Carapax  from 1200 to 350.

The European terrapins and their holding facilities (one of them jointly sponsored by Soptom and the BCG)  had already been   handed over in 2006 to EMYS CONSERVATION, under the  dynamic  presidency of Alain Veysset.

After  the juvenile storks had  migrated, we first reduced and then stopped feeding the adult population of storks, thus stimulating them to migrate as well. Part of the colony is being looked after at sites some 40 km south of  Grosseto, where new nests have been built for them.

The Tuscan donkeys have been reduced in numbers from 11 to 8 as some of them found a new home with real donkey lovers.

HOW CAN FRIENDS AND SUSTAINING MEMBERS HELP CARAPAX?

Of course the dismantling and transportation of various vulnerable  and rather delicate  technical and scientific apparatus   as well as 11 greenhouses is demanding and time consuming. We have been working for months on this. Moving the animals is even  more difficult.

The new CARAPAX centre will be built at a new location on private land to be purchased. The  purchase and the rebuilding of the CARAPAX site along modern European standards will be very costly, so every financial support is more than welcome.

We are gratefull for any support!

Bancaccount: INTERNATIONAL RANA FOUNDATION

IBAN: BE 21001500677603

BIC/SWIFT: GEBABEBB

mentioning "rebuilding Carapax"

                                           Thank you for helping us!

CARAPAX is the latin name for the shell or carapace of turtles and tortoises, and it is the name for the European project for conservation of Chelonians.



The CARAPAX project is really European because of the participation of several European institutions and NGO's and at first the European Union with the former European MEDSPA programme (Mediterranean Special protection Action). The turtle, symbol of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) of the United Nations (UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme) is dangerously threatened with extinction in the Mediterranean.


The turtle, or better the 17 species of Mediterranean Chelonians (3 marine species, 6 fresh water species and 8 terrestrial species to be correct) are rapidly vanishing, even if since the '80 there are various national laws and EU Directives that protect them. But laws aren' enough: someting more should be done. At international level several there are initiatives. Also in italy, since the end of the '70 ties, begiining '80 herptetologists and naturalists are working to stop and to invert this decline and the risk of extinction. And so, during 1987, European year of the Environment, was born the CARAPAX project, approuved by the Italian Ministry of Emvironment (July 1988) and by IUCN (December 1988) and by the hosting Tuscan region (December 1988) as a Mediterranean Special Protection Action of the EU.the project has been worked out by yhe international scientific foundation ,RANA (Reptiles and Amphibians in NAture), with headquarter in Brussels, with reperesentation NGO's in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The very solid basis are the 40 years of experience of the Belgian initiative of the "Charles Darwin Foundation" at Sta Cruz, Isabella, on the the Galapagos Islands, Equador. In 1964 under the leadership of Prof.dr.R.Van Straelen it was decided to start the breeding of the giant tortoises of the Galapagos, which was already quite rare and that couldn't reproduce anymore because of habitat destruction and predation caused by man-introduced domestic animals (rats, pigs, goats, dogs). Some specimens of the rares forrms of Galapagos giant tortoises were moved to tha Charles Darwin Station on Isabela for a breeding and so called head starting programme. The were kept separated according to Island of origin.The babies grow up in nurseries till 4-6 years: Then -omce big enough that predators can't eat them anymore -they are set free on the Island of origin. At the same time an eradication programme of all man-introduced animals is being worked our on the different Islands. The programme has excellent results: over 2,000 hatchlings have been reintroduced, the man-introduced animals are almost all eliminated and the original vegetation is growing again.

At the CARAPAX centre we work with the same methods, with the same scientific rigor, with the same marking system of Ian Thornton, with the same Belgian bases as at the Galapagos. Our tortoises of course are smaller. The whole technique has been studied at Galapagos by prof. R. Willemsen, who is still guiding CARAPAX' field studies since 1989.


The turtles and tortoises at the CARAPAX biodiversity station are not taken in the wild: most of them come from donations, from persons who realise the absurdity of keeping tortoises on a balcon and who bring them to us, or they come from confiscations, most from Italian and other European authorities. Another difference with Cahrles Darwin station is that at CARAPAX we take also care of marine and fresh water species.