NATIONAL
Within the captive breeding program, there are still more than 250 to complete their process prior to their release. A total of 86 captive-bred tortoises, which are part of a remnant of hatchlings from the Captive Breeding Program that closed in 2021, returned to their natural habitat in the Ecuadorian Galapagos archipelago. The Ministry of the Environment reported this Monday that there are still more than 250 to complete their process prior to their release.
The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park, together with the organization Galapagos Conservancy, released the 86 pups of the species Chelonidis hoodensis from Española Island, aged between 5 and 6 years. The specimens come from the captive breeding and breeding center on Santa Cruz Island, the main and most central island of the archipelago.
These tortoises were part of the captive breeding program for the species on Española Island, and have already reached the conditions of suitable measures to be incorporated into the island’s ecosystem safely, the Ministry said in a statement. Quarantine Prior to their repatriation, the turtles were subjected to an extended quarantine process, internal and external deworming, and an identification microchip was placed on each of them.
Later, they were transferred by helicopter to the southern center of Española Island, with the purpose of accelerating their dispersal throughout its territory. “The conservation efforts implemented by the national government, in synergy with our strategic allies, have been essential to carry out successful ecological restoration programs like this one, which has been a work of more than five decades,” said Danny Rueda, director of the Galapagos National Park. He noted that this captive breeding program, added to the management actions implemented on the island, “gives peace of mind” that it has been possible to “save a species that otherwise would have become extinct.” / Scoops ec