59 turtles rescued from artificial pond at temple in Maharashtra’s Thane

Mumbai, October 15

Fifty-nine turtles were rescued from an artificial pond at a temple in Maharashtra’s Thane district, an official from the forest department said on Sunday.

The Thane forest department in a joint operation with Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) rescued the turtles on Saturday, he said.

Twenty-two out of 59 turtles were native species such as Indian flap-shell, black pond and Indian tent turtles, which are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the remaining 37 were red-eared sliders, an exotic species, Pawan Sharma of RAWW said.

The turtles were examined by veterinarians at RAWW. The native species will be released into the wild, said Ashok Kateskar, round officer, Thane forest department.

“People buy exotic turtles from the market when they are small and easy to maintain. But when they grow old and big, they become difficult to look after and people abandon them in natural or artificial waterbodies, which is unethical and illegal,” Sharma said.