Life raft for an endangered species: Peter Praschag (47) has created the world’s largest and most species-rich collection of turtles with Turtle Island in Graz. Now the Styrian is fighting for more recognition – and has big expansion plans.
“Satisfied, hungry, in the mood to mate, stressed” – when Peter Praschag walks through the narrow corridors in his glass house in the south of Graz, lined with countless terrariums and pools, he can monitor the condition of each of his protégés in pass.
Instead of needing an X-ray machine or complicated examinations like others, the zoologist uses his senses. And the 47-year-old from Styria probably had another: “I grew up with turtles. In the 1970s, my father Reiner invested all his knowledge and money in protecting and breeding this endangered species,” he says.
Chinese offered half a million euros for animal
What started as a small hobby project has grown through enormous personal effort into a gene pool of a special class, which is unique worldwide and for which there is much international recognition: “Today we keep 2500 turtles from 230 species at four locations, including very rare or even extinct specimens in the wild,” Praschag reports.
Many of the turtles, which can live up to 200 years, were stranded in appalling conditions in the Styrian Arche Noah: “They could only survive because we removed some of the most endangered species from their native habitats.” Example: a turtle named Batagur baska. It is one of the three rarest species in the world.
Life-threatening surgeries
No living specimen has been found in its habitat (India, Bangladesh and Myanmar) since the 1990s. After three years of intensive fieldwork and dangerous research into the illegal turtle trade, father and son finally managed to locate the first three Batagur turtles in a village pond in southern Bangladesh in 2009.
They were used there as good luck charms for fish farming. The turtles had also enriched the menu and their eggs are also considered delicacies. “We bought all the animals from the owner and put them in a shelter,” the man recalls.
The most recent sensation came in 2021: for the first time ever, the conservationists of Styria were able to breed the red-backed softshell turtle.
Dream of the public zoo
The main goal of Turtle Island, as the project is called, is to reintroduce the animals raised under human care to their countries of origin. “But this can only be achieved with targeted information campaigns on site and with long-term financial support for the breeding station in Graz,” says the expert.
In order to offer the animals better shelter by then, money and sponsors are needed, but above all politically: “We have been a category A zoo since 2019, but the authorities are only giving us a beating”, he hopes Steirer imminent realization of a zoo modeled on Schönbrunn, which will also benefit the public.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
