Christin Moeller
Texas A&M University - Kingsville
Graduate Research Assistant / M.S. in Range & Wildlife Management / Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
Translocation and Disease Assessment with Texas Tortoises
Growing up in a small Texas town granted me the opportunity to spend my childhood outdoors in the woods hunting and on the water fishing with family and friends, this ingrained in me a love for nature. I was always certain that I wanted to work with wildlife as a profession. In the mix of graduating and obtaining a bachelor’s in agriculture degree with a focus in Range and Wildlife Management from Texas A&M University – Kingsville, COVID happened and unfortunately put a halt on graduate school. Despite that horrendous time, I made the best of it and obtained a job working with Texas Parks and Wildlife testing for Chronic Wasting Disease. During my time there I learned a great deal of skills and knowledge before returning to TAMUK to pursue my Master’s in Range and Wildlife Management. Due to a variety of factors, including expansion, the number of tortoises in Texas has been steadily reducing over time. My research seeks to establish whether translocation will be an effective management strategy for this species. To date, my team and I have caught, translocated, and are now monitoring over 150 Texas Tortoises (Gopherus berlandieri) from the Lower Rio Grande Valley region.
