Not so lonesome now

Ambitious plans to bring tortoises back to the Galapagos island of Pinta are on target. Thanks to the generosity of members and a fantastic matching grant of £14,500 from the British Chelonia Group (BCG), the Galapagos Conservation Trust has raised almost two thirds of the £29,000 needed.

The unique project will see the first transfer of up to 120 four-year-old captive bred Espanola tortoises to the remote island, to be repeated each year until there are enough tortoises for a successful breeding colony.

BCG announced their support to tie in with World Turtle Day on 23 May. Anne Rowberry, Conservation Officer at BCG said: ‘At BCG we have long understood the vital role that tortoises play in their ecosystems and so we are delighted to be supporting this groundbreaking project to bring giant tortoises back to Pinta’.

Since Pinta lost its last tortoise, with the transfer of Lonesome George to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz in 1971, the island has been without a major herbivore to keep the balance of its vegetation in check.

DNA testing has shown that Espanola tortoises are Lonesome George’s closest relatives. As all attempts to breed from George - or find others of his species - have been unsuccessful, this will be the first time in the history of Galapagos that conservationists have attempted to replace one species with another.

'So much work has already been done to restore the islands to their natural state. Now that the feral goats have been removed, the reintroduction of giant tortoises is the final piece of the puzzle,' says GCT chief executive Toni Darton.

The tortoises will be tagged with GPS so that scientists will be able to track them to evaluate their impact on the island’s ecology, and share the results of the project with the scientific community worldwide. The project will serve as a global model to show how conservationists can substitute a species to restore ecological and evolutionary processes.

Please make a donation now to help the project reach its target.

To find out more about BCG please visit their website www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk

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