But now that Louisiana has a law, the pressure on box turtles increases elsewhere. Of course now they're going to start removing them from Alabama and Mississippi. By 1995, the global population had plummeted to a mere 30,000 because of exploitation in the Atlantic Ocean, according to SREL scientists. These are animals that have been around for 200 million years. But in just 15 years, the population size had decreased nearly 75 percent.
Invasive species introduced into an area can spell danger for reptiles as well.
For example, the Galapagos tortoise is now near extinction largely due to the unintentional introduction of rats, which destroy both the young and eggs of the tortoises. The new predators made their way to the Galapagos Islands as stowaways on ships. The recent popularity of reptiles as pets also contributes to their decline. This past August, the U.S. government extradited a man it calls an international wildlife smuggling kingpin and charged him with illegally trafficking in half a million dollars worth of protected reptiles. Keng Liang Wong of Penang, Malaysia, allegedly spearheaded an international wildlife smuggling ring selling about 300 animals, including one of the rarest tortoise species, the Madagascan spurred tortoise.