Turtle Survival

Winning Hearts – and Respect for Radiated Tortoises
– One Community and Soccer Match At a Time
In November 2014, TSA launched a unique campaign in southern Madagascar to utilize
this island nation’s love of soccer to support the Radiated Tortoise Conservation Awareness
Program. The initiative, called Soccer for Sokake (the local word for Radiated Tortoise),
used the sport to facilitate learning about the conservation of local wildlife in the village of
Lavanono – a community that is key to the conservation of this species, and where local
stewardship is essential to its survival. Thirty donated Ultra-durable, One World Futbols
were essential to the program and to the games initiated in the community.
Confiscations of illegally collected Radiated Tortoises
surged toward the end of 2015, and all four of the TSA’s
rescue centers — a fifth facility is underway soon — are
at full capacity, with another ~2,000 tortoises being
cared for in Antananarivo. Ultimately the completion of
the Tortoise Conservation Center will ease this burden
and allow for improved long-term care and options for
the future. PHOTO CREDIT: HERILALA RANDRIAMAHAZO
dent at the University of Tulear, is conducting
surveys at the reintroduction site to determine
the density of the resident tortoise population.
Soary also acts as a community liaison for
the TSA by communicating project goals and
conducting conservation education. In 2013,
she supervised the construction of the required
temporary enclosures and participated in a
traditional ceremony signifying community
support for the project.
READY FOR REINTRODUCTION
In January 2014, the first group of 45 soft
release tortoises was transferred to the site.
A second group of 45 arrived later, in July,
representing the 12-month and 6-month groups.
Both groups had been long-term captives from
the Village des Tortues in Ifaty. Twelve resident
tortoises were fitted with radio-transmitters and
monitoring was initiated by local village assistants.
Monitoring of all the animals is currently
being conducted by community members, Soary,
and the TSA staff.
In January 2015, we brought the final group
of 39 tortoises to the site as the hard-release
group. These animals had been housed in two of
TSA’s rescue centers in Ampanihy and Betioky.
The Ampotaka community welcomed the arrival
and, in preparation for the release, held a formal
meeting to brief locals from the village and surrounding
communities.
Despite a cultural taboo against disturbing
the tortoises, many local people are inter-
Soccer for Sokake was a partnership between Utah’s Hogle Zoo, Turtle Survival Alliance,
and One World Play Project, and part of a continuing community awareness program to
support our reintroduction strategy for Radiated Tortoises. Its goal was to strengthen community
capacity for tortoise conservation education and action through a culturally relevant
activity – soccer.
The program’s core messages included: “Wildlife conservation requires teamwork; Become
a defender of wildlife by not supporting illegal collection; and Radiated Tortoises occur
nowhere else, and it’s everyone’s job to protect them!” The messages were shared through
an adult mentorship program called Conservation Coaches, and were featured prominently
at field stations and in classroom activities that gave children opportunities to improve their
soccer skills while learning about conservation, tortoises and local wildlife.
Before arrival in Lavanono, twenty Conservation Coaches led the community in a threemonth
long project to create a soccer field in the village. Coaches and kids selected animal
mascots for the ten soccer teams participating in the program, including: lemurs, wild
turkey, guinea fowl, snakes, freshwater turtles, and of course, tortoises.
Soccer for Sokake participants crafted wearable animal masks and costumes to learn about
wildlife and connect to conservation through fun and creative play. Both kids and coaches
learned more about wildlife in the spiny forest by writing and performing poems and songs
about their animal mascots, and by illustrating team banners. In the afternoon, kids played
in a weeklong soccer tournament, which benefited from more than 200 new uniforms,
cleats, socks, and the One World Futbols we provided.
The program culminated with the raucous, high-stakes final game of the soccer tournament.
The game was preceded by an uplifting animal parade that wove through the village
with song, dance, and speeches of goodwill for the partnership and commitment to tortoise
conservation. Following a pinning and certificate ceremony, where every participant was
acknowledged for their contribution, the village hosted a traditional celebration shared
by several hundred people. It was a wonderfully festive event that clearly enhanced local
tortoise knowledge and goodwill.
ested in why international organizations are
investing in their communities. They want to
learn more and participate; so additional local
volunteers were selected to join the tracking
team, allowing us to monitor the tortoises
more closely.
One hundred and eight tortoises were fitted
with radio-transmitters so their movements
and habitat use can be monitored for at least
two years. We removed the enclosure fences to
release the animals to freely wander the forests.
It was gratifying to see tortoises that had gone
through so much – once destined to become food
– rescued, and then held in captivity for months
or years, to survive to this point and be released
into good forest habitat.
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