News
Uttar Pradesh: Turtles confiscated and released
February 24, 2009, 9:58PM MT
By Sharon St. Joan
From the illegal turtle trade
From the illegal turtle trade
Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India, has a population of 190 million people. It is in the north of India, along the border with Nepal.
By the Wildlife Protection Society of India
In one of the largest freshwater turtle hauls ever to be recorded, five tons of live turtles, numbering about 3,000 animals, were seized in Allahabad on Thursday, January 22, by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police. The seizure took place at night, and three people, who were transporting the turtles in a truck, apparently to Kolkata, were arrested and sent to the Naini Jail.
Three species listed in Schedule 1 of The Wildlife (Protection) Act were identified, (1) the Indian Flapshell Turtle, (2) the Ganges or Indian Softshell Turtle, and (3) the Spotted Black Terrapin or Spotted Pond Turtle. The turtles were stuffed into about 60 jute sacks, with about 50 to 55 turtles in each.
The turtles were released under a court order on the banks of the Yamuna River on Friday, in the presence of STF officers, UP state Forest Department officials, and two representatives from WPSI who traveled to Allahabad to assist the authorities in this case.
Earlier in the week, 250 tortoises were seized in Kanpur, also in the state of UP, and one woman was arrested. On Sunday, 25 January, four men were arrested by police in Mainpuri district in UP in possession of 150 tortoises.
There is only limited information on the trade in live turtles and tortoises, but going by this huge haul in Allahabad and the other recent seizures, the trade appears to be controlled by an organized nexus of cross-border wildlife criminals, and to be on the rise.
What you can do
To visit the website of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, please go to
http://www.wpsi-india.org/wpsi/index.php
Photo: ©F2 / Dreamstime.com / These are turtles in a U.S. zoo.