DNA testing and other advancements mean trafficked animals can return home
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
On a warm, sunny morning, around 25 people gather beside a barn in northern New Jersey with some animals that were seized years ago on the way out of the country. Today, those creatures are returning home, which was next to impossible until now. Here's science reporter Ari Daniel.
ARI DANIEL, BYLINE: So it feels like a party atmosphere.
MAURICE RODRIGUES: Yeah. This is a party. This is a big deal, you know?
DANIEL: Maurice Rodrigues is glowing. He's been waiting for this day for almost 30 years. Rodrigues gestures to a group of boxes sitting in the grass. Inside, there are box turtles, 38 of them, each one the size of my outstretched hand. Their dark shells have streaks of bright yellow. Others are splotched in brilliant orange.
RODRIGUES: Obviously, I find them beautiful.
DANIEL: They are exquisite, and that has a downside.
RODRIGUES: Their value in the black market has skyrocketed. Like, you can see this one turtle we're looking at with the golden head and the golden shell. I mean, that's $5,000.
DANIEL: Such bounties motivate people to traffic box turtles, grabbing them from their woodland habitat from a place like New Jersey.
RODRIGUES: I mean, you can FedEx reptiles, literally.
DANIEL: But won't they be caught?
RODRIGUES: Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't.
DANIEL: Rodrigues is often among the first to know when animals are confiscated. He's co-founder of the Turtle Conservancy. And when turtles show up at LaGuardia or JFK, he gets a phone call to see if he can care for them.
RODRIGUES: There's a secret location in New Jersey where I've built enclosures for these confiscations. So every year, I seem to have to expand because the rate of the confiscations seem to be going up.
DANIEL: He says nearly all the box turtles here today were once on their way to Hong Kong, but he hasn't been able to return these or any animals to the wild.
RODRIGUES: You don't want to just get a turtle and just throw it anywhere.
DANIEL: So they wind up stuck in captivity. But now, DNA testing has gotten cheap enough and good enough that individual box turtles can, finally, be traced back to the state where they came from. And these 38 animals are all New Jersey natives.
BRIAN ZARATE: OK, y'all. Hey, listen, thanks for coming.
DANIEL: Brian Zarate addresses the small group. He's a principal zoologist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Fish and Wildlife, and his team's partnered with the Turtle Conservancy on today's release.
ZARATE: We're going to hike about 10 or so minutes back into the woods. It's a quick in-and-out trip.
DANIEL: Zarate says box turtles aren't endangered, but state and federal officials are worried about their numbers. Today's release adds a few more animals to their ranks.
ZARATE: So we'll go out there and release some turtles.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Let's go. Let's give these guys a second chance.
DANIEL: Today is something of a family affair. Zarate's 8-year-old son, Max, is part of the group.
How are you feeling about today?
MAX: I'm feeling pretty good. I get to hang out with my dad and my dad's friends and stuff.
DANIEL: Soon, we reach a slight rise between a couple swampier spots. The group stops in a small clearing.
Looks like they're opening the tops of the boxes.
Some of the box turtles pull themselves up and crane their little necks over the sides.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: All right, guys. Start letting them go.
DANIEL: What are you doing, Max?
MAX: I'm putting this guy back in its home in the forest.
DANIEL: I've brought my kids, Leila and Raja, along as well.
LEILA: I'm lifting up the turtle.
RAJA: Where do we put it?
DANIEL: You can - I think you can put it - where does he put it?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: He can put it anywhere he wants. They're free now.
RAJA: There.
DANIEL: In less than a minute, the boxes are empty, and the turtles are home.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: That's it.
(APPLAUSE)
DANIEL: I find Rodrigues off to the side, taking it all in. He's hoping this approach can serve as a model for releasing captive turtles in lots of places.
RODRIGUES: If this is a success, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife can then pitch it to other neighboring states and across the country, maybe even Canada. This is going to be the beginning of something kind of amazing. I mean, these are animals that live longer than us humans. They deserve that, you know? I'm getting a little emotional. Yeah. They just deserve a better life.
DANIEL: For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel, northern New Jersey.
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