Ha Hoang
- Project name: Assessment of release strategies for confiscated and Endangered Big-headed turtles in Vietnam
- Project site: Pu Mat National Park, Vietnam
- EDGE species: Big-headed turtle Platysternon megacephalum
- Active: 2019 - 2022
Biography
Ha studied for an Bachelors degree in Forestry Resources and Environment Management before joining the Asian Turtle Program in 2008. His ambition is to save all of the native tortoise and freshwater turtle species from the threat of extinction.
Ha hopes that the Fellowship can help him to further develop his career in conservation. While he has contributed to some scientific papers in the past, he hopes to lead on new publications which will further his academic career. He is excited to research strategies for the release of rehabilitated big-headed turtles as he feels it will lead to a large conservation impact in the region and elsewhere.
EDGE Project
Ha’s project aims to increase local conservation capacity in Vietnam, better understand disease-turtle interactions and other threats to the species and increase awareness of turtle conservation amongst stakeholders. His objectives are to:
- Improve knowledge, skills and local conservation capacity in Vietnam
- Assess the prevalence of Mycoplasma and Herpesviruses infections in wild, locally caught big-headed turtles and other highly threatened turtle species
- Improve understanding of local ecological knowledge of big-headed turtles at release site
- Increase knowledge of survival rate & spatial ecology of big-headed turtle through a radio telemetry monitoring study of a subset of translocated turtles
- Raise awareness of the species amongst local rangers and the local community
- Develop a big-headed turtle species conservation action plan in Vietnam
