Hello Everyone!

TOGETHER WE HAVE ACHIEVED SO MUCH! Thanks to YOUR support during Aussie Ark’s three previous crowdfunding campaigns, we have delivered wonderful outcomes for the endangered Eastern quoll, Tasmanian devil and Manning River turtle! We have now bred over 350 Tasmanian devil joeys, and now successfully provide refuge for more than 80 Eastern quolls. We released our first quolls home to Booderee National Park in May 2019. 2020 saw the first collection of critically endangered Manning River turtles, and their eggs to ensure their survival into the future. These are huge outcomes for native wildlife conservation and quite simply we could not have done it without you. Thank you.

There are more species that need our help.

Australia’s wildlife is in a state of emergency. We have one of the WORST extinction rates of any country in the world. Home to more than one million species of plants and animals, Australia’s wildlife is uniquely ours, found nowhere else in the world. Australia’s native plants and animals adapted to life on an isolated continent over millions of years. New pressures from invasive species have caused a major impact on our country’s soil, waterways and on its native plants and animals. 2019 saw long-term environmental issues culminate into unimaginable conditions. Severe drought, catastrophic wildfires and unprecedented heat waves have triggered the loss of entire ecological communities, and possibly entire species. 

Aussie Ark is committed to native wildlife conservation and being a part of the solution for our wildlife. Now more than ever, we as a community need to act and work together to save what is left of our fauna. Today we commit to saving the Hunter River turtle and Bell’s turtle!

Freshwater turtles are natures vacuums, they are critical to our freshwater ecosystems, cleaning up our beautiful river systems, keeping aquatic vegetation in balance, and maintaining the stunning waterways we are so proud of. We simply cannot let them disappear on our watch!

THE PROBLEM

Australian freshwater turtles are in danger of disappearing. New South Wales alone has 2 endemic turtles found nowhere else on earth and both are endangered. Since September 2019 the East coast of Australia has been ravaged by fire. More than 5 million hectares of land has been decimated, which has had catastrophic effects for the Hunter River turtle habitat, leaving blackened and destroyed ecosystems in its wake. These bushfires coupled with the worst drought in history have meant that rivers have stopped flowing. Turtles desperately seeking deeper water are more susceptible to road strike, being trampled by cattle and predation from Fox and cats. Our turtles are simply disappearing.

The Hunter River turtle is found only in the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia. Distinguished for its beautiful green eyes, this turtle enjoys living in large, deep, clear, flowing, stable waterbodies, within their small range. Likewise, the Bell’s turtle is found in only three river systems in New South Wales and one river in Queensland. They are both however in real danger of disappearing forever. We estimate that over 80% of their river systems have been dry over the past six months due to catastrophic conditions with only a handful of small pools and mud puddles remaining to sustain the species. If this wasn’t bad enough, survivors that move in search of water are at great risk of heat, starvation, and predation by foxes. Aussie Ark staff in the field have discovered over 100 deceased Hunter River turtles alone and relocated another additional 150 specimens that were only days from perishing. Female turtles that lay eggs are vulnerable to pigs, foxes and cattle. Female turtles are preyed upon, as well as eggs. Aussie Ark staff last year observed firsthand this damage with one site having over 14 nesting sites, all of which had been destroyed by foxes. We estimate there are less than 1,000 of each of these two unique species in the wild, and this number could be as low as 500. They need our help, and with your support we can save them!

CHALLENGES

Our main challenges are time and money. Conservation is expensive! Establishing facilities for endangered species takes time, effort and funds.

The speed of its disappearance from the waterways of the Upper Hunter district in NSW during the catastrophic bushfires and prolonged drought is unfathomable. At the current rate of decline, and if intervention is not undertaken immediately, the acquisition of genetics becomes increasingly challenging and may jeopardise the long-term survival of the species. Each day and week more turtles are dying. We need to ensure their survival before it’s not too late.

The race is on to save these unique and threatened turtles, and we can do it with your help!

THE SOLUTION

The New South Wales Government, Australian Reptile Park and Aussie Ark have once again joined forces to save this species.

Australian freshwater turtles live in a fragile and niche environment. In the case of the Hunter River turtle, they require clean, flowing substantial bodies of water to thrive. For a captive insurance population to be established, specialised facilities are required to enable a population to thrive.

Aussie Ark has a proven model in establishing robust and healthy insurance populations. Utilising this knowledge, and the husbandry expertise of the Australian Reptile Park, we are able to change the trajectory of this unique Australian species.

This Aussie Ark facility will be constructed on the Australian Reptile Park site, being environmentally, and climatically perfect due to its proximity to the wild distribution of the species. Construction is planned to begin in March 2020, to be completed by June 2020. The facility will be built following the successful model of the Manning River Turtle facility already onsite (that YOU helped us build!). Additionally, there will be two large outdoor inground natural ponds.

Aussie Ark staff in the field have already collected, together with the New South Wales Government, 20 individual Hunter River Turtles to begin an insurance population. These individuals will be the first founders of a healthy captive population providing protection of the species well into the future. They are currently being cared for in temporary quarantine facilities, however, require long-term specialised facilities to ensure their journey back to the wild. Additionally, we still need to bring under our protection founding individuals for the Bells River Turtle.

In partnership with the NSW Government, we will continue to conduct ongoing in situ population surveys to monitor the status of the wild population, protect nesting sites and land management activities within their natural habitat and once captive breeding has been established and increased, wild translocation from the captive facility to areas the turtles were formally found will be conducted, to bolster wild populations, to ensure the species remains ecologically functional while further wild solutions are addressed and implemented.

HOW THE FUNDS WILL BE USED

100% of the funds raised will be spent on the construction of a world class turtle breeding facility.

Capital development costs include the following:

The facility:

• Concrete, site works, utilities - rainwater tanks
• Security, surveillance - installation of camera surveillance system including alarms as well as monitoring equipment

Framework: external structure for entirely enclosed and secure facilities

Plumbing: sinks, hoses, capturing water from above and delivery to all individual ponds

Tools and equipment, storage, quarantine

Subtotal = $77,630

Individual turtle habitat / pond development:

• 5000 Litre ponds

Aquaforce pumps

Bioforce filters

Nesting boxes / basking areas

Pond vacuums

Water Heaters

Estimated cost for 10 ponds = $37,370

Outdoor inground pond construction and shade structures: $30,000

TOTAL = $145,000

Help us help these beautiful turtles. Extinction is not an option!