Re-introduction of African spurred tortoise in North Ferlo, Senegal

Summary

The African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata), Vulnerable and declining across Africa from desertification, overgrazing and the illegal pet trade, retains its last wild Senegalese population in the North Ferlo Faunal Reserve, where SOPTOM released 24 captive-reared, health- and genetically-screened tortoises in July 2006 at a fenced, livestock-free 600-hectare site near Katane, each fitted with a radio transmitter. For the first two years, Senegalese National Parks staff and a reformed poacher-turned-tracker conducted daily telemetry monitoring, recording an encouraging 90% survival rate along with normal wild behaviors including dry-season burrowing, feeding and mating; from 2008 to 2010 monitoring shifted to unassisted periodic observation to rule out survival being an artifact of human intervention, and by 2010 the survival rate remained strong at 80%, with the only recorded mortalities caused by male-on-male fighting rather than environmental stress. Local Pulani shepherds and children, engaged through an awareness tortoise house near the release site, actively assisted monitoring by reporting tortoise locations. Major difficulties included the general scarcity of properly protected Sahelian habitat capable of supporting the species and growing human settlement pressure near water points within the reserve. Based on these promising results, the project rates itself Successful and had planned a second release of additional tortoises for 2011, citing the population's strong adaptation and the sustained cooperation of the local community as the key reasons for success.