I think your first hunch about poachers is accurate if they intend the turtles to be used for enhancing a breedng group. Several females can be bred by the same male. When you look at the ratios in the pet trade, sellers always try to enhance the offer with 1.2 trio or even pairs (especially with L. yuwonoi). Secondly, the argument that more females face road fatality is abosulutely accurate with spotteds, woodies, Blandings, Boxies, and Common Maps(especially apparent here as the females are the only ones to tred far from water). If a population is frequently poached or pressured by road kills, the loss of just a couple of animals can easily cause the population to collapse especially if the losses are among the females. In MI spotties are threatened species. In many other areas, demand from the pet trade has driven their numbers to level where protection is an absolute must. Better breeding projects and more responsible care and collection of these turtles is necessary if they are to coninue to be a species that is available to the hobby and abundant in the wild. With he low reproductive rate of any the above species--commercial breeding projects are not really viable without wiping out entire populations; hence the ever increasing regs on these turtles.

Best to buy from a reputable dealer who you know does not sell or continue to collect wild caught animals (except maybe in the case of Asian species because the illegal food trade is their biggest drain and insures a 0% survival rate. At least in the pet trade some animals will surivive--it is the lesser of evils and in the current climate it is becoming a necessary evil to insure some species continued existence but be careful that you are getting these from reputable importers as well because you do not waant to mess with USFWS).

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