Johannesburg • International conservationists in Madagascar have been treating more than 10,000 critically endangered radiated tortoises that were seized from traffickers who had crammed them into a home with no access to food or water.
The Turtle Survival Alliance and other groups are caring for the tortoises at a wildlife facility in the Ifaty region of the Indian Ocean nation, though hundreds have died from illness and dehydration.
The alliance says the radiated tortoises were found by police at a home in Toliara on April 10 and that they likely had been collected for the illegal pet trade, possibly in Asia.