Blanding's Turtle

Photo By: Center for Biological Diversity

The international trade is a major threat to turtles worldwide, particularly good looking threatened species like the Blanding's turtle, pictured here. At the recent meeting of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the international community agreed to a U.S. proposal to regulate and monitor international trade of Blanding’s turtles, spotted turtles and diamondback terrapins. The pet trade is the best known, but turtles are also caught and sold, particularly in Asia, for food and medicine. The new protections resulted from a 2011 Center for Biological Diversity petition.

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