News · 25-07-2022
Why does the government say to leave dumped turtles alone?
Our government but also the largest animal protection organization in the Netherlands has since 2 years the policy to leave invasive species of turtles or to put them back into nature as old trash. Completely against the European regulation of 2016. We as a turtle shelter with a heart for these animals find this terrible and that is why we do help these animals! Together with more than 40 volunteers and more than 25 animal organizations across the country, we make sure that every turtle found is lovingly taken care of!
Why would these parties say and believe this, you might think?
The answer is money. Both organisations are afraid that they will have to pay for the costs. And that is why they choose to apply the extinction policy. In concrete terms, this means that they advise citizens to return a found and caught turtle to our fragile native nature! They know very well that the animal is going to die slowly. However, they do not take into account that this predator disrupts the entire native nature, all kinds of water creatures, toads and frogs are eaten until there is nothing left to eat. If possible, they simply leave on roads to the next ditch or pond. Only in the warm period from 18 degrees can these animals digest food and have enough energy to hunt. They are very fanatical in this because this period is only short. As a result, the animal will never find enough food to sustain it for decades. The animal will tenderly slowly interen and die. This suffering can last up to 6 to 7 years. There are exceptions where the animals can find enough food or even be fed. But even then, our cold variable climate is a big challenge for this exotic animal!
Ravon, who monitors the reptiles and amphibians on behalf of the government, comes up with the same fact. A turtle released into the wild is slowly starving to death.
The most common turtle species sold in recent years are the yellow cheek, red cheek and yellow-bellied turtle. These have therefore been massively expelled throughout Europe. As a result, native nature is damaged and species are even displaced. That is why the European regulation on invasive exotic species came into force in 2016. This meant that any exotic, which can be taken from the native nature, that this must also be done. The release is punishable, not only according to the EU rules but also according to our own Nature Act, which prohibits the release of alien animals or plants in our native nature!
The advice to leave the animals sitting or even to put them back within 24 hours is first of all unworthy of the animals. Furthermore, it is never clear to the competent authorities that they are catching someone in the act who wants to release his pet, or that this is a dumped and found pet. We know that turtles found and rescued by various animal organizations on a large scale are eventually released back into the wild. We now see that many non-forbidden turtle species are also dumped in ditches and ponds, purely because people think they are giving the animals freedom. Simply because they take the advice of these parties for granted. And that's what you can normally expect...
We as turtle shelter Netherlands continue to fight to stop this suffering. This suffering has been going on for 60 years now and species are being banned again and again so that the animals continue to suffer constantly in a vicious circle. People and organisations who claim that these animals are better off in nature than in a warm shelter cannot be taken seriously. It is these entities that perpetuate this suffering for years and ensure that the next generation of turtle species is dumped again. As long as there are species that have to be banned again....
In the background, we continue to build the Turtle Reserve of the Netherlands. Where many turtle hearts beat even faster 
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https://www.geef.nl/nl/doneer?charity=6151
Superrr thanks in advance on behalf of more than 2000 turtles in the shelter!