In our quest to conserve glamorous flagship species such as the tiger and elephant, the plight of smaller creatures such as tortoises is often overlooked. It is an irony that the very shell designed by nature to protect the tortoise may lead to its downfall. It will be a great tragedy if there are tortoises in homes as pets, but none left in the wild. The tortoise trade will deal a severe blow to slow-growing and slow-reproducing species like the star tortoise. It has become increasingly evident that the tortoise trade as it now exists cannot continue without devastating effects on individual tortoises, entire species, their habitats and possibly even on human health. On simple humane and environmental grounds the trade must stop. If it does not, it faces its own extinction, either as a result of public outrage or simply because eventually, dealers will run out of tortoises to sell.
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