In 2010 Cris Hagen became the first Director of Animal Management for the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and is responsible for the strategic development and management oversight of captive turtle assurance colonies throughout the U.S.A. to support the conservation mission of the TSA. He is based at the TSA’s Turtle Survival Center (TSC), which opened in 2013 near Charleston, South Carolina, where he manages a collection of over 700 individual chelonians, representing 32 endangered and critically endangered species. Cris has an extensive background in herpetology spanning more than 30 years and includes a mixture of herpetoculture, animal collections management, biological sciences, taxonomy, field and lab research, teaching and environmental education. Cris was employed from 2002-2013 as a genetics and herpetology research technician at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Since early childhood, he has been a dedicated student of natural history and evolution with a primary focus of chelonian and crocodilian conservation biology and captive management. His work and personal devotions have taken him to more than 25 countries around the world to study natural history, with focused interest in the Malay Archipelago.
February ’17 Speaker: Cris Hagen from the Turtle Survival Alliance
January 30, 2017 by Chris Rueber • Uncategorized •
In 2010 Cris Hagen became the first Director of Animal Management for the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and is responsible for the strategic development and management oversight of captive turtle assurance colonies throughout the U.S.A. to support the conservation mission of the TSA. He is based at the TSA’s Turtle Survival Center (TSC), which opened in 2013 near Charleston, South Carolina, where he manages a collection of over 700 individual chelonians, representing 32 endangered and critically endangered species. Cris has an extensive background in herpetology spanning more than 30 years and includes a mixture of herpetoculture, animal collections management, biological sciences, taxonomy, field and lab research, teaching and environmental education. Cris was employed from 2002-2013 as a genetics and herpetology research technician at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Since early childhood, he has been a dedicated student of natural history and evolution with a primary focus of chelonian and crocodilian conservation biology and captive management. His work and personal devotions have taken him to more than 25 countries around the world to study natural history, with focused interest in the Malay Archipelago.