site.btaEnvironmentalists Release 17 Hermann's Tortoises in Dragoman Protected Area

Environmentalists Release 17 Hermann's Tortoises in Dragoman Protected Area

 Sofia, August 21 (BTA) - Seventeen Hermann's tortoises have
been released in the Dragoman Protected Area (Northwestern
Bulgaria), part of the NATURA 2000 network, the Balkani Wildlife
 Society said on Thursday. The release is part of a project for
restoring the population of this species in the protected area.

The tortoises were found by people in various parts of Sofia -
in parks, gardens, near residential buildings or on roads. They
spent between one and three years at the Dragoman Wetlands
Conservation Centre in Dragoman, living in close to natural
conditions. They were fed typical wild natural foods and got
accustomed to winter in a natural way.

The tortoises also spent two weeks in a temporary enclosure at
their new home in order to adapt more easily. Tortoises of this
species previously inhabited the location where they were
released, but they disappeared in the first half of the 20th
century as a result of human activity.

Hermann's tortoises are protected by the law, and Bulgaria's Red
 Data Book classifies them as an endangered species threatened
by extinction. Removing tortoises from their natural habitat is
strictly forbidden and is punishable by law, the
environmentalists recall.