This was my 3rd year attending the Turtle Alliance Conference and every year it gets better, I
especially felt the workshops this year were really good and a lot of thought had gone into them.
There was arrange of talks from veterinary to conservation with a focus on breeding projects from
speakers with various backgrounds, all delivered the talks well considering the range of knowledge
and experience within the audience. All were really interesting but I particularly liked ‘changes on
welfare and conservation legislation’ by Jane Williams, ‘changes in chelonian medicine’ by Dr
Shannon Diruzzo who discussed case studies, tip and tricks that worked and didn’t work with certain
species and ‘introducing the new glasshouse habitat and Chelonia at Marwell zoo’ by Dani Kilroy as
it was amazing to hear about all the hard work, planning and technology that went into opening that
exhibit..
As mentioned above the workshops this year were really good, ranging from ‘UV lighting’, ‘tortoise
health checks’ and ‘how to preform a post mortem on a tortoise’. The workshops were delivered at
various levels knowledge and something of interest for everyone. Whilst the post-mortem wasn’t for
everyone (there was food, tea/coffee and a few stalls/notice boards if you choose not to attend), I
think it was good for learning tortoise anatomy and the effects of years of poor husbandry and why
it’s important we learn and improve our knowledge. I hope future events will hold more wet lab
workshop.
The conference is super affordable and great value for money especially if you have a small CPD
budget. Included in what you pay for is all the talks and workshops across two days, lunch on the
Saturday, snacks during breaks, teas, coffee’s and soft drinks. All food is catered for various dietary
requirements including vegetarian, vegan, food allergies and intolerances. You also have the option
to book onto the evening meal for an additional fee which I really recommend as you can get a
chance to talk to some of the speakers or even just socialize with other chelonian enthusiasts and
enjoy food/drink. Whilst the conferences is easy to book onto, its best done from a laptop/computer
as the form isn’t the best on a mobile.
I think next year It would be good to see/hear from more students doing projects in Chelonia,
especially ones that Turtle Alliance Europe have funded and maybe more stands either shops stalls
or organizations.
Overall it is a great conference that is continuously growing and improving all thanks to its
volunteers that hard work behind the scenes. I look forward to next year.
