The following is a statement from the Cayman Turtle Farm responding to criticism by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) of an independent review of CTF operations currently being carried out.

Contrary to the WSPA’s statement on the independent review currently being carried out at the Cayman Turtle Farm, the review is indeed an independent one, clear of bias either in favour of or against the Cayman Turtle Farm.

The primary goal of the independent assessment, as stated in its terms of reference, is to determine whether standards of care meet those required to ensure that the operation is conducted in a “humane (i.e. non-cruel) manner”.

According to the review terms of reference, the inspection team is expected to examine and pay particular attention to issues including water quality; stocking densities; treatment and prevention of disease and injury; levels and causes of mortality; levels (if any) of severe injuries; levels (if any) of congenital deformities; handling of animals by guests (including safety of both animals and guests); and slaughter methods and practice.

All of these areas are directly related to the welfare of the turtles, and also correlate with the areas of concern alleged by the WSPA in its own report. We therefore are at a loss to understand why the WSPA claims the review does not have the welfare of the turtles in the care of the Cayman Turtle Farm at heart.

The terms of reference also ask the team of independent experts to suggest any reasonable steps by which animal husbandry and care might be improved at the farm; and to comment on the contribution the Cayman Turtle Farm makes to conservation of turtle species.

It would seem clear to us from the stated terms of reference that the inspection is centered around both turtle welfare and conservation – both of which the Cayman Turtle Farm is focused on and concerned with.

Another area of criticism from the WSPA is the standards to which the Cayman Turtle Farm will be held by the independent review. Given that the Cayman Turtle Farm is a completely unique facility and there is no other of its kind to compare it to, the terms of reference also state that “The inspection should be made on the basis of the standards of practice that would apply to a comparable intensive livestock production facility in the UK or USA.”

The WSPA takes issue with this, arguing that the turtle is not a domesticated species. However, neither were pigs, cows or chickens – until they were in fact farmed and domesticated.

The WSPA then turned its criticism on the make-up of the review team. All four of the inspectors are well known turtle experts and members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature [IUCN] Marine Turtle Specialist Group [MTSG].

The team conducting the review is comprised of the following experts:

Mr. George Balazs is a sea turtle scientist with 40 years of professional experience in Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, and globally. He has published over 100 journal papers on sea turtles. He has been a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG) since 1976, and is currently the MTSG Vice-Chair for the Pacific Islands Region. In 2002 the leading conservation organisation in the USA, the National Wildlife Federation, honoured Mr. Balazs with its National Conservation Achievement Award for exemplary leadership in protecting wildlife and natural resources. He recently completed a 3-year term on an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee which ensures that animal welfare is humanely addressed. In March 2012 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Sea Turtle Symposium.

Dr. Annette Broderick is a Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology. She has been researching marine turtle populations for over 20 years, with much of her work focusing on the UK Overseas Territories, including the Cayman Islands. Her research focuses on the conservation and monitoring of marine turtle populations, in particular reproductive investment; impacts of temperature on hatchling production; migration and navigation of adults and the management of marine turtle harvests. She is a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG).

Dr. Thierry Work is a veterinarian, and a wildlife disease expert with 20 years of professional experience in Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, and globally on diseases of sea turtles. He is credited with over 40 journal papers on sea turtles. He is a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG) and the IUCN Wildlife Health Specialist Group (WHSG).

Professor Brendan Godley is a marine conservation scientist and qualified veterinarian who has been working on marine turtles around the world for over 20 years. He is a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG). Professor Godley was selected by the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [DEFRA] to conduct an inspection in 2002 on the Cayman Turtle Farm. Furthermore in addition to his involvement with the IUCN MTSG, he serves on the IUCN Veterinary Specialist Group, and the Turtle Implementation Group for the UK Biodiversity Action Plan for Marine Turtles.

His marine turtle studies to date have been diverse and have involved work in the Mediterranean (Northern Cyprus and Turkey), the Caribbean (Trinidad & Tobago and the UK Overseas Territories including the Cayman Islands), west Africa (Guinea Bissau) and the south Atlantic (Ascension Island) as well as studies of marine turtles in British waters.

Despite the clear qualifications of these individuals to conduct a thorough review of the Cayman Turtle Farm, the WSPA has complained that there is no “animal welfare expert” on the review team.

First – how does the WSPA define an “animal welfare expert”? On the review team, all members are definitively and unarguably experts on sea turtles, two members are also qualified veterinary doctors and a third has three years’ experience on an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) combined with formal training in animal welfare.

Regarding the WSPA’s complaints that the review team is not independent without a WSPA representative taking part, we stand by our assertion that it would be less “independent” to include a WSPA representative on the team, as this would introduce its own bias – as would including a member of the Cayman Turtle Farm staff on the review committee. For this reason, neither a WSPA representative nor a Cayman Turtle Farm representative are included on the team, for the very purpose of ensuring that the reviewers come to their own independent conclusions.

Regarding the complaints of the WSPA of potential bias, this would seem to refer to inspection team members Professor Brendan Godley and Dr. Annette Broderick having conducted research involving the Cayman Turtle Farm. That Professor Godley and Dr. Broderick have been in contact with the Cayman Turtle Farm over the years in the course of their work is not unusual given that the Cayman Turtle Farm is the only organisation of its kind in the world focusing on captive breeding of sea turtles and maintaining a stock of sea turtles of various ages – and the work of both Professor Godley and Dr. Broderick is centered around research on sea turtles.

Neither Professor Godley nor Dr. Broderick has ever been employed by the Cayman Turtle Farm.

Professor Godley conducted a review of the Cayman Turtle Farm in 2002 that was funded by the UK Government. He was selected by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to conduct that review based on his expertise and qualifications. The terms of reference of that inspection included among other things to “… determine whether standards of care meet those required by Resolution Conf. 11.14, that the operation is conducted in a humane (i.e. non-cruel) manner …“. Obviously DEFRA considered him qualified and competent to conduct that inspection which included a review of animal welfare concerns.

The report of the independent review team is due at the end of January 2013, and the Cayman Turtle Farm – as has been publicly stated on several occasions – intends to pursue recommendations arising from this report and is committed to making the findings of the independent review report public.

It must also be noted that the Cayman Turtle Farm was not forced into this independent review. We chose to have it conducted and agreed to pursue its findings in order to address the areas of concern which arose due to the WSPA’s allegations, and to reaffirm that the Cayman Turtle Farm is a bona fide research and conservation facility which does not practice or condone animal cruelty, and which is committed to the wellbeing of the turtles in our care.

END

See also Thursday (13) iNews story “Cayman Turtle Farm review team labeled as already compromised by WSPA” at http://www.ieyenews.com/2012/12/cayman-turtle-farm-review-team-labeled-as-already-compromised-by-wspa/