The international turtle traffickers smuggled $400,000 worth of terrapin, box, spotted, and map turtles from the Carolinas to Hong Kong and China in 2019. In Florida, more than 12,000 federally threatened or endangered turtles – valued at more than $2 million -- were illegally harvested in the wild and sold into the Asian black-market pet trade.
But the freshwater turtle smuggling networks, and others, were busted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) Southern Surge Task Force. The investigative efforts of the 14-member law-enforcement team in combatting wildlife traffickers were recognized Monday by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. The nonprofit organization recognized the team’s work during its annual awards ceremony held virtually, and in-person, in Providence, Rhode Island.
“The Southern Surge Task Force stands as a shining example of the best of conservation law enforcement, exemplifying innovative strategies, investigative perseverance, inter-agency and inter-disciplinary collaboration, and above all, results in the fight against the criminal exploitation of our nation’s natural resources,” the judges wrote in bestowing the Conservation Law Enforcement Award.
In addition, Paul Rauch, the Service’s Assistant Director for Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration, received a Special Recognition Award for “outstanding commitment to the work of AFWA,” which represents the state fish and wildlife agencies across North America.
Turtle trafficking is big business. Only the smuggling of guns, drugs and humans ranks higher than the illegal commercialization of wildlife, and the small turtles play an outsized role in the black-market trade. The International Fund for Animal Welfare estimates that illegal wildlife trafficking in the U.S. runs $19 billion annually. Oftentimes, international organized crime networks harvest the turtles from the wild and ship them to Asia where they’re used as food, medicine, or pets.
About 60 percent of the world’s freshwater turtle and tortoise species are considered threatened or extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. And the Southeast, with its abundance of freshwater turtles, ports and airports, is a natural location for an anti-smuggling task force.
The Southern Surge Task Force was established in 2018 under the purview of the Office of Law Enforcement. The team conducts undercover operations, collects evidence of violations, and prosecutes harvesters and traffickers. It works closely with investigative counterparts in state conservation agencies, as well as federal border control and interstate commerce agencies.
“Perhaps most notable of all,” wrote Col. Curtis Brown, director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Division of Law Enforcement, “SSTF members and state investigators have worked closely with biological staff, conservation organizations and members of academia to improve turtle conservation efforts and repatriate hundreds of native turtles that were removed in large numbers from the wild prior to their seizure during SSTF and related operations.”
Brown nominated the task force for the AFWA award.
The task force has helped federal and state investigators arrest 21 people, execute 37 search warrants, disrupt 15 trafficking networks, and seize money, equipment and turtles valued at more than $550,000. Eighteen people have been sentenced to 72 months in jail, and $21,500 in fines have been levied.
Task Force members: Scotty Boudreaux (Louisiana); Andrew Hutchinson (Florida); Jimmy Barna (Georgia); Brian Cazalot (Louisiana); Tom Chisdock (North Carolina); Heather Green (Georgia); Jodie Horton (West Virginia); Jason Keith (North Carolina); Robert Register (Florida); John Skidmore (Florida); Tracey Woodruff (South Carolina); Jason Riley (Florida); Neil Gardner (Georgia); and Stephen Clark (Georgia).
