Turkey Turtle Farm

[M Whilden]

M Whilden

September 17, 2007 at 2:57 am #25234

Slowly, slowly, turtle farm growsPosted on Sunday, September 16 @ 09:02:52 CDT by editor HAVING completed his PhD degree on reptiles, German zoologist Michael Reimann exports pet turtles that he breeds on his farm in Fo__a, __zmir to Europe. Owning the only turtle farm in Turkey, the German scientist exports an average of 5,000 turtles a year, each of which cost 20 euros. The enterprise brings in a total of 100,000 euros to Turkey each year. Reimann believes love for animals is established at an early age. He was born in Bad Kreuznach near Frankfurt. __As a kid, I collected interesting animals instead of playing football,__ he said. He studied biology and zoology in the Johannes Gutenber University near the city of Mainz. Then he started conducting research on reptiles and visited several parts of the world for this purpose. __My family were one the biggest financial supporters of my research. But when the costs of my research got too big, I established a farm in Germany and started breeding turtles,__ he said. Reimann first came to Turkey 20 years ago to study different types of turtles. He bought 10,000 square meters of land in Fo__a 10 years ago and started controlled turtle breeding in 2003. He said: __Turkey’s fauna is rich in terms of turtle species and its climate is favorable. There is only one water-turtle species in northern Europe, whereas there are two land-turtle and five water-turtle species here.__ At first he collected a number of animals from the wild with special permission from the agriculture ministry. He then went on to breed turtles. __This way we did not upset the natural balance,__ he said. __What I did was a novelty in Turkey because here there is no habit of feeding reptiles at homes. __But in Europe and the United Sates, millions of people feed scorpions, spiders, mice, and snakes. This is why at first everyone asked what these animals were good for. Contrary to general belief, these animals are not eaten except for in China. It is against the law to eat turtles in Europe. The animals I export are to be fed as pets.__ Reimann has approximately 7,000 turtles at the farm in Fo__a, of which 4,500 are infants. He said: __With my Turtle Breeding and Research Trade Incorporated Company, I export to European countries such as Spain, France, and primarily Germany and England.__ He explained that for a small turtle, the price is between 15-20 euros and that the price rises as high as 30 euros, depending on the size of the animal. __My exports reached 100,000 euros this year. I will increase my export volume, as my farm gets bigger.__

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