Endangered giant Galapagos tortoises ‘killed for meat’

Tortoise meat was once considered a delicacy, but poachers now face up to three years in jail

Rare giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands are being killed for their meat by poachers, authorities in Ecuador fear.

The bodies of four endangered tortoises were found in the wetland complex of the Galapagos National Park.

State prosecutors have opened an investigation into the alleged “hunting and slaughter” of the tortoises.

A tweet says a specialist environmental team, including experts in animal necropsy, will also interview park officials.

Tortoise meat was once considered a delicacy, but poachers now face up to three years in jail.

In September 2021, park rangers found the remains of 15 Sierra Negra giant tortoises on Isabela.

In March, a new species of giant tortoise was discovered in the Galapagos Islands after scientists found animals living on one side of the archipelago had not previously been recorded.

The study, published last week in the journal Heredity, assessed the DNA of tortoise bone museum samples collected from the highlands of the San Cristóbal island over a century ago and compared them with those of giant tortoises living on the island.

Researchers, including those from the University of Newcastle in the UK and Yale University in the US, found that the DNA from the museum samples did not match that of the tortoises currently inhabiting the island.

The Galapagos Conservancy, an American non-profit organisation, released a statement condemning the killings.

It said: “Galapagos Conservancy strongly condemns the poaching and eating of Giant Tortoises as an environmental crime.

“We trust in the management of the Galápagos National Park Directorate (GNPD), an organisation that, in spite of incidents like these, works diligently to safeguard the biodiversity of the islands.

“GNPD is currently awaiting the findings of the investigation so that, if the perpetrators are identified, the full force of the law is used to ensure that this crime is not left unpunished.

“Protecting giant tortoises and their ecosystems is everyone’s responsibility, the Galapagos archipelago is a destination of biological, ecological and natural importance of global interest, that is why the Galapagos Conservancy ratifies its commitment to continue working on the protection and restoration of populations of these iconic species, unique in the world.”