Revue internationale d'écologie méditerranéenne International ...

256
◆ FAITS DE CONSERVATION EN MÉDITERRANÉE / MEDITERRANEAN CONSERVATION NEWS
with the aim of protecting Audouin’s gull colonies and tasks to be
implemented will include some sort of control of the local population
of yellow-legged gulls. Likewise, hacking activities will be
continued until 2006. A second hacking programme has started
to be applied at the Columbretes Islands colony in 2003 and will
also go on until 2006. The accidental foundation of a new colony
(6 pairs) of the species at the Albufera de Valencia Nature Park in
2003, from captive-bred birds released at a nearby recuperation
centre, suggests that our programme might be successful. It is
worth to point out that there is little experience of hacking with
gulls, and hence this is a good chance to test the reliability of this
method that could be applied to gull and tern species from other
regions of the planet.
ALEJANDRO MARTÍNEZ-ABRAÍN 1 , ELENA VILLUENDAS 2 ,
BLANCA SARZO 2 , JOSEP CARDA 3 & D.ORO 1
1. IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB),
MIQUEL MARQUÈS 21, 07190 ESP ORLES, MALLORCA.
2. CRF GRANJ A DE EL SALER,
AVDA. DE LOS PINARES 106, 46012 EL SALER, VALENCIA.
3. PROYECTO LIFE 02/E/8608
CONSERVACIÓN DE Larus audouinii en la Comunidad Valenciana.
Conselleria de Territori i Habitatge, Fransesc Cubells 7,
46011, Valencia, Spain.
Collecting and captivity
of the spur-thighed tortoises (Testudo graeca graeca):
a cultural problem in southeastern Spain
Many species of tortoises in the world face conservation problems
induced by humans, which have even caused the recent
extinction of some species. In most cases, threatening factors are
the alteration or loss of suitable habitats and the collection of
animals for food or for the pet trade.
Collection of tortoises for pet trade with commercial target is
certainly an important threatening factor for the different species
of Testudo genus in the Mediterranean area and Asia Minor. In
fact, consolidation of pet trade during the 19 th century has led to
an international export trade involving thousand of animals per
year of circummediterranean species (Lambert, 1979).
Testudo graeca graeca, commonly named spur-thighed tortoise,
is distributed throughout North Africa, and in little patches in the
Doñana Biological Reserve (Southwest Spain), in Mallorca island
and in the Southeast of Spain (provinces of Murcia and Almería)
(fig. 1). In the Southeast Spain, where the main distribution area
of T. g. graeca in Europe is, the species inhabits littoral semiarid
mountains where vegetation is basically a sparse scrub with little
patches of dry crops (fig. 2).
In Spain the trade of tortoises for pet did not reach an international
magnitude as in others mediterranean areas. However,
it was established a regular national trade from the natural range
of the species (Testudo graeca graeca from southeastern Spain and
Testudo hermanni from Balears island) towards urban centres as
Madrid and Barcelona (López-Jurado et al., 1979). Actually, T. g.
graeca has a high status of international, national and local protection,
and its collection and trade is legally forbiden. However
in Southeastern Spain keeping tortoises in captivity is a longestablished
custom.
Our study, based on inquiries made to children in the province
of Murcia, reveals that this practice continues to be a common
activity, and estimates a captive population in the order of tens of
thousand of tortoises, but, at present, the capture of T. g. graeca for
trade is a marginal issue in southeastern Spain. The way most tortoises
reach captivity is by direct collection from wild populations
through chance encounters by local inhabitants, and not through
active search for the species with commercial objectives in mind.
Also, there is quite an important stock of tortoises that breed in
captivity, and a significant flow of tortoises from one person to
another, but few individuals are donated to organisations or wildlife
protection institutions.
The custom of keeping tortoises in captivity is maintained
by popular belief regarding its benefits and, above all, by their
attraction as pets. This custom was firmly rooted in rural areas
before being exported to urban centres by street sellers. At present,
through notable rural depopulation and the development
of legislation concerning the conservation of wild animals, the
regular collection and trade in tortoises has gradually declined
in Southeastern Spain. However, the demand of tortoises for pet
from other parts of Spain where wild tortoises do not occur may
be supplied at present by animals from other countries mainly
from north Africa where commerce and export are still common
activities.
Distribution of Testudo graeca in the Mediterranean area
ecologia mediterranea, tome 29, fascicule 2, 2003