John,

The southeastern United States is a global biodiversity hotspot for turtles, home to delicately patterned map turtles, giant snapping turtles and peculiar-looking softshell turtles found nowhere else on Earth.

Yet these turtles are being removed from their native habitats at alarming rates to feed international trade, with many shipped to Europe to become pets. In the last decade, the European Union has imported hundreds of thousands of U.S. turtles. 

Tell the EU: Hands off the turtles.

To curtail this trade, the U.S. government has proposed 36 turtles for protections at the upcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES meeting, to be held in Panama this November. If the proposals pass, the turtles will get meaningful protections.

Every nation gets a vote at CITES and all 27 EU countries vote in a bloc. Right now, unfortunately, the EU seems to be supporting continued turtle trade.

Urge EU decision-makers to vote “yes” on turtle protections at CITES to safeguard U.S. imperiled wildlife from the exotic pet trade.