Shellshock
EAZA Turtle and Tortoise Campaign 2004/5
Activities
Shellshock campaign in Ohrada Zoo Hluboka nad Vltavou
The contribution to the Shellshock campaign in Ohrada Zoo was mainly to inform zoo visitors and the general public about the difficult situation of tortoises and turtles all over the world and their protection. During the campaign year basic information was provided through three informative boards and a leaflet which was available for every zoo visitor, as well as by the help of press, radio and a regional television station.
In this period young Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni) hatched and with last year's breeding of European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) this helped raise the interest of media. An informative stand was set up in the zoo in the Summer season, where staff presented information on Shellshock problems and tried to involve visitors in the discussion on these problems. Ohrada Zoo Hluboka nad Vltavou is specializing in the keeping of European species, therefore an exhibition of European turtles and tortoises was used to present the problem.
The Shellshock campaign in Ohrada Zoo culminated on 3 September at the start of the school year, when the zoo's annual childrens action was used to support the Shellshock campaign. A game called "Rescue tortoises and turtles" familiarized children and their parents in a non-violent and playful form with the main problems which populations of turtles and tortoises are wrestling with. Children had to look for five tortoises or turtles that were calling for help and by fulfilling simple tasks they managed to save them. In this way the children "rescued" a tortoise that people wanted to eat at a restaurant and another tortoise that was loaded on a ship with her friends to be shipped away from its home. The children could also save a large green sea turtle that was ill because it had swallowed plastic bags instead of jellyfishes and they helped to find a place to lay eggs for a turtle in a rescue station. Finally they tried, like turtle conservationists, to find sea turtle nests in the sand (table tennis balls were used as eggs). When finished with their rescue work, the children received a sweet reward in the rescue station and a leaflet which in more detail familiarized children and parents with the Shellshock campaign.
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