Rare turtle of wildlife breeding programme rescued in Satkhira

Police today handed over a rare turtle of a wildlife breeding programme to authorities after rescuing it from a fisherman in Tala upazila of Satkhira.

Sheikh Ohab Uddin, a local fisherman, caught the turtle, locally known as Batagur Baska, weighing around 12 kilogrammes this morning and took it to a local market for selling.

However, after seeing that the turtle had an antenna attached to its back, no one wanted to purchase it, our Satkhira correspondent reports quoting Ohab.

Ohab then took the turtle to his house, from where police later rescued it upon information, the correspondent said.

The turtle is a northern river terrapin and is one of the largest Asian turtle species found in freshwater and brackish water. The species is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN and considered extinct in much of its former range.

The turtle is one of the two which were released with satellite transmission system as part of a breeding and surveillance programme launched at Karamjal Wildlife Breeding Centre under Chandpai range of the Sunderbans on February 12 in collaboration with Turtle Survival Alliance of USA, Vienna Zoo in Austria, and Prokriti Jiban Foundation, said Saidul Islam, East Sundarbans divisional forest officer.

It is still not clear why the turtle stopped sending signals and how it managed to travel 50 kilometres away from the Sundarbans, the DFO said, adding that the other turtle is sending information and images as it travels between the Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal, which are being received at Vienna Zoo.

Police handed over the rescued turtle to Ajedul Hasan, a forest ranger in Khulna division, this afternoon, said Hosain Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Tala Police Station.

The turtle will be released to river in the Sundarbans after examination conducted by experts from Dhaka, the OC added.