China needs our coal, metal, cotton, corn, wood... now turtles?
..one section of the Rio Grande river that had been a trap site, an adult turtle has not been seen in 10 years.
'They are taking them so fast the scientists can't study them,' Jones said.
Now some varieties including the Texas river cooter could have some protection because the TPWD commissioners on May 24 approved a measure to prohibit the collection of wild turtles on public land."
Turtles need protection from overharvesting because they are slow to mature and their young have a high mortality rate, said Lee Fitzgerald, an associate professor of herpetology at Texas A&M University who has published research on the Texas turtle trade.
"Their population can't take the removal of adults," said Fitzgerald. "If it continues, the population will collapse."
For example he said it takes a female box turtle 15 years to reach sexual maturity. Once at that stage she lays four or five eggs, and most of the hatchlings will not survive.
Read more from Planet Ark : Texas Turtles Ending Up in China Soup Pots