After turtles are rescued from poaching, this man gives them a chance at another life

By Ari Daniel,

Regina G. Barber, Jessica Yung, Rebecca Ramirez

Published November 6, 2024 at 7:08 AM EST

The Turtle Conservancy cares for illegally trafficked turtles once they're confiscated, including box turtles.

In North-Central New Jersey, there is a backyard teeming with around 200 turtles. Many of these shelled creatures have been rescued from the smuggling trade and are now being nursed back to health in order to hopefully be returned to the wild. Science reporter Ari Daniel joins host Regina G. Barber to tell the story behind one man's efforts to care for these turtles and to ensure they have a chance at another, better life.

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This episode was produced by Jessica Yung, edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact-checked by Tyler Jones. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.

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Ari Daniel

Ari Daniel is a reporter for NPR's Science desk where he covers global health and development.

See stories by Ari Daniel

Regina G. Barber

Regina G. Barber is Short Wave's Scientist in Residence. She contributes original reporting on STEM and guest hosts the show.

Jessica Yung

Jessica (she/her) is a producer for the Short Wave. She got her start in radio as a producer at Gimlet's narrative technology podcast Reply All, working on stories about QAnon, video games, cryptic tweets, and more. For the past two years, she has taught podcast production to high schoolers at Harlem Children's Zone, where she guided her students through making personal pieces about topics like jumping the MTA turnstile and complicated relationships with parents. Before she came to radio, she worked in print media, through various jobs at literary magazines and book publishers.

Rebecca Ramirez

Rebecca Ramirez (she/her) is the founding producer of NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. It's a meditation in how to be a Swiss Army Knife, in that it involves a little of everything — background research, finding and booking sources, interviewing guests, writing, cutting the tape, editing, scoring ... you get the idea.

See stories by Rebecca Ramirez