The alarming impact of poaching in nature reserves is not unique to turtles, as there are signs of poaching for all species valuable for food and trade. This is largely due to poor management practices and lack of effective supervision by nature reserve managers. The team makes the following recommendations: (1) commercial activities in reserves should be strictly restricted by national policy; (2) an effective evaluation system should be established to assess reserve effectiveness; (3) strict supervision of nature reserve management should include participation from academic institutes, NGOs and social media.