Terrapins Terror

A rather sad tale about the fate of terrapins flown by, a charity, the British Chelonia Group (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/28/terrapin-haven-tuscany-derelict-carapax?INTCMP=SRCH) to spend their days at a sanctuary. The terrapins were generated by an earlier fad for 'Ninja turtles'. With the decline in enthusiasm for the programme and these reptiles, the owners handed them in or released them into UK environments (where they had detrimental effects on wildlife including young waterbirds). The collected terrapins (the released ones had to be recaptured at great expense) were freighted to 'Carapax' (the European Centre for Chelonian Conservation) near Pisa in Italy. Although food was provided, it turned out  that the pools at the location were inadequate for the numbers of animals and many have died leading to closure of the 'sanctuary'. There are several messages here. The first, is that one should, if possible, avoid animals being purchased as a result of a fad (often the children and their parents have little idea about what they are getting into). The second, is that releasing the unwanted 'pets' into our natural environment is a distinctly bad idea (although it is likely to be the default response of most owners). The third, is that 'sanctuaries' have to be properly evaluated before being used (and even then, they may not prove to be a viable long-term solution).