🚀 go-pugleaf

				
July 28, 1996

Dear Fellow Herpetological Conservationists,  

The following is a letter from the Ohio government which in combination
from the documented evidence from the previous alert on this issue should
finally close the Ohio loophole for the illegal collection of wood
turtles.  

Unfortunately, many of these illegal wood turtles are now at various
well-known Florida and mid-western dealers.  With this information now
out, these dealers will be looking for ways to get rid of their illegal
stock.  

Beware of ads for adult turtles that claim them to "long-term captives." 
Ask to speak to the ex-owner.  Look at the turtle, does it have mites,
leeches, algae, wounds on the shell?  These are sure signs of a wild
caught animal.  And only buy wood turtles that the breeder can truly prove
was captive bred from an established breeding colony.  Someone whose
establishement you have visited, or who someone you trust has visited.  

Please feel free to copy, print or distribute my comments and the
following letter. 

Allen Salzberg
Asalzberg@aol.com


P.S. Thanks for all the letters sent in.  You see democracry can work. 
You just have to work on it.


					Ohio Department of Natural
Resources
					Division of Natural Areas &
Preserves
					1889 Fountain Square
					Columbus, OH 43224
					July 25, 1996

To Whom It May Concern,

	It has come to my attention that wood turtles claimed to be of
Ohio origin are currently being sold on the commercial market by
unscrupulous collectors.  As a zoologist with the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources I would like to set the record straight on the status of
this animal in Ohio.  In short, there is no scientific or documented
evidence which would even indicate that wood turtles were ever native to
the state of Ohio and certainly does not support wood turtle populations
of any kind at this time.  As this animal is not a current inhabitant of
the state of Ohio, any collector trying to pass off wood turtles as having
been captured in Ohio is simply being untruthful. 

	Eastern Ohio has historically been included by some authors as
encompassing the possible range of the wood turtle in North America.  This
inclusion was based entirely on supposition by some of the early writers
as wood turtles were known to inhabit eastern Pennsylvania.  No wood
turtle populations were ever discovered in Ohio, however, to support these
suppositions.  Such early Ohio naturalists as Jared Potter Kirtland who
lived in NE Ohio in the early 1800s never found or even received reports
of wood turtles being captured in Ohio.  Statewide surveys by Roger Conant
in the 1920's and 30's also failed to locate a single wood turtle in the
state of Ohio.  Extensive surveys by both professional biologists and
amateur herpetologists in eastern Ohio during the last 50 years have
likewise failed to identify any populations of this animal in Ohio.

	In more modern times there have been 3 isolated records of
individual wood turtles being picked up in the state: a 1952 record of an
individual picked up along a trail near the nature center in a Cleveland
MetroPark; a 1948 record of an individual picked up in Summit County,
Ohio; and a 1973 record of an individual picked up in Greene County, Ohio.
 These individuals can only represent animals which were collected
elsewhere, brought into the state and were subsequently released or
escaped.  It is these records which provide for the present state of
confusion concerning the status of this animal in Ohio.  As there are no
populations existing in Ohio at this time, the debate can only be about
whether wood turtles were ever native to Ohio.  The best available
evidence covering 150 years of natural history surveys in Ohio clearly
indicate that wood turtles have not occurred in Ohio at any time during
this period.

						Sincerely,
						Daniel L. Rice, Chief
Zoologist
						Division of Natural Areas
and 							Preserves