151 radiated turtles of Madagascar repatriated from France

A total of 151 radiated turtles of Madagascar were repatriated from France on Wednesday at Antananarivo's Ivato International Airport, a statement from Air Madagascar said.

Stéphane Gagno, chief of animals service under the Station for Observation and Protection of Turtles and their Environments (SOPTOM) in France, which sent back these turtles to Madagascar said at the airport that 170 turtles from Madagascar were seized in France on Dec. 14, 2014.

They were scotched and hided in the trafficker's luggage with seafood. Only 151 survive during this condition of trip.

"We have lavished necessary veterinary care to give them strength. It was imperative for us to send them back to Madagascar and then reintroduce them in their natural environment," Stéphane Gagno added.

"The turtles will be quarantined first. After the adjustment period, they will be sent in a center of Turtles survival alliance in Mangily, 25 km north of Toliara, 950 km southwest of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. After that they will return to their natural habitat," the statement added.

"The radiated turtle of Madagascar is a critically endangered species," Herilala Randriamahazo, a Malagasy environmentalist within the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which conducts research every five years and ranks the red list species, told Xinhua.

Saying that 90 percent of extinction factors of radiated turtles is consumption while 10 percent is illegal trade abroad, Randriamahazo alerted that "at this rate no more Madagascar turtles will survive by ten years."

"Only 50 percent of viable habitats of turtles remained currently in Madagascar, the healthy populations of radiated turtles are found in southern and southwestern Madagascar," he said unveiling the increase of poaching in these localities.

The latest data from IUCN said that Madagascar has 5,600 radiated turtles per square kilometer in 2009.