Meet the Team
Torsten Blanck
Founder & Executive Director
Torsten has been keeping and breeding Asian Turtles and especially Cuoras since three decades and travels through Asia in his mission to see every Cuora species in the wild to further improve his understanding of this fascinating Genus
Tanja Blanck-Kremser MSc
Zoological Curator
Tanja acts as our zoological Curator and oversees and manages our ever growing collection. Being married to an Cuora afficionado she keeps the balance at the CCC, especially when Torsten is in the field.
Johannes Wipplinger MSc
Veterinarian
Hannes runs his Vet Clinic in Frauental and Wies, Austria, his main interest being exotic animal species, as such fitting perfectly in the role of our veterinarian in charge.
Maik Pressnitz MSc
Volunteer
Maik who holds his Master of Science in Biology works as a Botanist and spends his spare time as a volunteer in our zoological facility
Kerstin Dengg MSc
Volunteer
Kerstin who holds her Master of Science in Biology works as a teacher and spends her spare time as a volunteer in our zoological facility
Julia Lamprecht MSc
Former Volunteer
Julia volunteered at our facility and is still a warmly welcomed guest, now fully focusing as a zoological Curator at Turtle Island in Graz
Peter Praschag PhD
Team
Peter - known from Media as the Turtle Hero, is the founder and director of Turtle Island who has the ultimate goal to save every turtle species on earth from extinction.
Turtle Island is our closest Partner.
Elmar Meier
Team
Elmar is likely the most successfull Cuora breeder on this planet. He has setup and managed the IZS in Münsters Allwetterzoo for the last two decades, saving Cuora zhoui from direct extinction thanks to his huge breeding success and understanding of this species needs.
Ting Zhou
Team
Ting is based in Haikou, China, one of Chinas best known turtle researchers, she works for the Hainan forestry department and actively surveys turtle farms and organises the teams chinese field research. She is an eager writer and is always in the process of publishing new turtle literature.
Ben Anders PhD
Team
Ben, of Arkansan origin is a teacher based in Hong Kong and actively surveys the markets and streams and never misses our field research projects.
Jens Friederichs
Team
Jens keeps and breeds Cuora species at the Bodensee in Germany and is part of our Asia Field Team.
Toni Pak Yin Ngai
Team
Toni, one of the most experienced Hong Kong Herpers, spends more time in the jungle then at his home during nighttime and works in a vet clinic during daytime. Before that he worked at Kadoorie, successfully improving the C.trifasciata breeding facility there.
Jay Pak Ho Wan
Team
Jay is also from Hong Kong, (as you might have noticed, the Asian Base of the CCC), he worked for Kadoorie Farms and has gained extensive field skills wih Cuora yunnanensis and other species.
Daniel Gaillard PhD
Team
Dani, based in Dalton, Georgia, USA, working at the Dalton State College, fluent (self thought) in Mandarin, spends all his spare time in the field in China and other parts of Asia and runs genetic analysis of many Asian Turtle Species.
Dave, one of Hong Kongs most experienced Herpetologists, is working as a official Snake Catcher and for Kadoorie Farm Herpetological Surveys and is clearly one of the best Cuora trifasciata trappers.
Dave Willot
Team
Bastian Esser
Team
Bastian living in Rostock, Germany spend his free year as a volunteer at our facility and is now working as a Curator in a Nature Park in Mecklenburg, Germany. He loves doing field research in China and maintains several Cuora species at his home.
Sebastian Nickl
Team
Keeping and breeding Asian Turtle Species is his passion, based in Mainz, Germany. He loves to travel in Asia to learn more about the habits of the turtles he maintains.
Christopher Riou
Team
Based in Jakarta, Indonesia, Chris oversees ours Projects in Indonesia and focuses on Cuora amboinensis himself.
Paul Crow MSc
Advisory Board
Paul is the senior wildlife officer of our Partner - Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden, based in Hong Kong and in charge of their C.trifasciata assurance program. A lot of his time he spends in the swamps and streams of Hong Kong, tracking Pythons and Turtles, always in the hope to find a remaining C.trifasciata population hidden somewhere.
Cris Hagen
Advisory Board
Cris is the collection Manager of our Partner the Turtle Survival Alliance based in Cross, South Carolina. We exchange our breeding experiences and join forces in the field where we can.
James Liu PhD
Advisory Board
Jim is a Vet and the director of our Partner, the Turtle Conservancy based in New York and Ojai, California. Traveling around the globe to fight turtle extinction is his declared goal and his ancestors homeland China his new chelonian destiny.
William P. Mccord PhD
Advisory Board
Bill is one of the foremost Asian Turtle experts and has described several species. Based in New York he maintains a large private collection that has helped generations of scientists to learn more about rare turtles.
Tim Mccormack BSc
Advisory Board
Tim is the director of our Partner the Asian Turtle Program based in Hanoi and the UK.
He focuses on protecting Vietnams native turtle species, especially Mauremys annamensis, Rafetus swinhoei and of course the Cuora species.
Brian D. Horne PhD
Advisory Board
Brian served as the Chair of the IUCN TFTSG and works for the Wildlife Conservation Society. He spends more time in Asia searching for turtles than at his homebase in San Diego, California.
Steffen Szymanski
Advisory Board
Steffen from near Karlsruhe, Germany loves Asia, frequently joining our field research and keeps and breeds Asian Turtle Species at his home.
Sebastian Braun
Advisory Board
Sebastian from near Stuttgart, Germany breeds many Asian turtle species, being most successfull with Platysternon, but also working with Cuora and frequently joining our field research in Asia.
Richard Struijk MSc
Advisory Board
Richard is a dutch Herpetologist and breeds a range of Asian Turtle species, especially successfull with the terrestrial Cuora species. He sits at the TSA Europes board.
Yi Li
Advisory Board
Yi owns the largest Cuora trifasciata/Cuora cyclornata breeding farm, the Huizhou LiYi Golden Coin Turtle Farm, in China and on this planet. We actively exchange our knowledge on these species which also resulted in the description of a new subspecies not to long ago
Markus Auer
Advisory Board
Markus works in the Senckenberg Museum Dresden and is the Editor of the Radiata Magazine. In his spare time he travels trough Asia in search for Turtles and activelys keeps and breeds many turtle species at his home.
Pipeng Li PhD
Advisory Board
Pipeng, one of the most renowned Chinese herp scientists focuses on chinese amphibians and turtle species, often joining our field research, he works as a Professor at the Shenyang Normal University.
Minh Le PhD
Advisory Board
Minh works as a Professor at the Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies of Vietnam National University and travels between Hanoi and New York. He is partnering us in Field Research in Vietnam, Genetic studies and Taxonomy like the description of Cuora cyclornata.
Richard Vrzal
Advisory Board
Ritschi served many years as the President of the Herpetological Association of Austria and is now focusing in breeding tortoise species at home. He loves travelling and has joined us on several of our Field research projects in the past.
Fang Zhang PhD
Advisory Board
Fang is a Professor at the Anhui Wuhu Normal University and focuses on the herpetology of Anhui. He was the first scientist to discover Cuora aurocapitata in the wild.