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Red-Eared Invasive Slider Turtles Turn Up in South Africa

15:16, 17 April 2023

Gleb Chugunov

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Red-eared sliders are freshwater turtles from North America, and are the best-selling turtles in the pet industry worldwide. They also hold 2nd place among the top 100 worst invasive species globally, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Invasive Species Specialist Group.

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Several red-eared sliders have been found in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Hartbeesport Dam, Durban, Scottburg and Cape Town, the environmental group Invasives South Africa reported, adding that these turtles are a concern because they pose a threat to native tortoises, spreading disease and parasites.

"They spread across wetland ecosystems and can migrate up rivers and across land to new water bodies. These exotic reptiles pose a threat to our indigenous terrapins through disease and parasite transmission as well as competition for similar resources. They also threaten biodiversity in wetland ecosystems," said Invasives South Africa.

Cormac Price, a herpetology postdoctoral fellow at North West University, said red-eared sliders found in South Africa are a borderline species, adding that they may be dangerous for local species.

"They cause a lot of havoc and grief to local habitats and ecosystems already, particularly in countries like France, Spain and Italy. They're also causing big issues in Australia, South America and Japan," he told African media.

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According to Price, one of the main problems associated with the potential invasion of alien turtles is their impact on local frog species, macroinvertebrates and small fish in the pristine wetlands of KwaZulu-Natal, where eight to 14 different species of frogs live.

"If you introduce red-eared sliders, you could find that maybe only two or [frog speices] will be left. They will wipe out the more sensitive species of frogs and less prolific breeding frogs," Price said. "So they will really wreak havoc on native wetland biodiversity […] if we keep ignoring it and if people keep selling them illegally without being persecuted or prosecuted."

Albi Modise, spokesperson for South Africa's department of forestry, fisheries and the environment, stated the ministry had undertaken steps to manage alien and invasive species in accordance with the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act and the Alien and Invasive Species Regulations and Species Lists 2020, which include four categories of invasive species, as well as the corresponding measures to combat them.