Burmese mountain tortoises. Photo / Wikicommons / George Berninger Jr.
Dr. Kalyar Platt has won the annual Behler Turtle Conservation Award for her work in protecting the various species in Myanmar.
Platt is head of the country program for the US-based Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA).
The TSA calls Myanmar “ground zero” for the effort to save the reptiles, many of which are smuggled to China. The Burmese roof turtle, the Burmese star tortoise and the Arakan forest turtle are some of the “highly endangered” species that the group works to protect, according to its website.
Platt’s award comes with a $5,000 prize, which she hopes to spend training others, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported.
“I am going to use the prize money to send young keepers working on turtle conservation in our country to the Singapore Zoo to study techniques on caring, feeding and breeding turtles,” she said.
The award is named after herpetologist and naturalist John L. Behler.
