The scientific magazine Current Biology recently published that more than half of the planet’s 360 species of continental turtles and tortoises are in danger of extinction. After 400 thousand years of sharing space with mankind, they live their worst crisis due to illegal traffic that transforms them into pets, the use of their parts for the production of supposedly miracle drugs and the destruction of their habitats, among other threats. Germán Forero-Medina, Science Director of WCS Colombia, is coauthor of this global report and explains that in Latin America it is still possible to rescue them and prevent their disappearance.

Diego Lizcano, one of the Colombians that knows more about tapirs and especially Tapirus pinchaque, talks of the importance of this species that silently regenerates the vegetation of paramos and Andean forests of the country, amid deforestation processes that have it trapped and endangered

In Caldas, 16 foxes of the Cerdocyon thous species perished, when they contracted Canine Distemper, an infectious and contagious disease very common among canines, which was transmitted by domestic dogs that had been abandoned by their owners.

A study published in the Regional Studies in Marine Science journal indicates that the future of elasmobranchs in this region of the country depends largely on the fact that the authorities continue preventing the capture of these cartilaginous fish, as is done today. Giving a minimum opportunity to the extraction of these important marine animals, could put their sustainability at risk.