Homecoming: Over 200 turtles seized in China released into River Indus

These black pond turtles were smuggled into China in June.

SUKKUR:

Nearly 200 black pond turtles that were smuggled to China in June were released back into River Indus on Monday.

These turtles were seized by the Chinese authorities on August 18 and returned to Pakistan on August 22, when they were kept under observation in Sukkur’s Indus Dolphin Preservation Centre for nearly a month. The Customs authorities at Kashgar, a town bordering Pakistan and China, had seized these turtles and sent them back to Sukkur.

A 17-member team from Pakistan, comprising officials from the wildlife department, World Wildlife Fund, and others from the government of Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, went to collect the turtles from Kashgar, the in-charge of the Indus Dolphin Preservation Centre and wildlife expert, Mir Akhtar Hussain Talpur, told The Express Tribune. The turtles were handed over to the Pakistani officials in an impressive ceremony held in Kashgar, he said.

Hard-shell turtles are smuggled mostly to China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and other countries, Talpur explained, adding that it was the first time in history that Pakistani officials went to China to collect smuggled turtles. According to him, eight species of hard-shell turtles are found in the fresh waters of Sindh. These turtles serve as sanitation staff in the river, as they eat dead animals and keep the water clean, he added. On Monday, nearly 200 of these turtles were released into River Indus near Kalar village in Ali Wahan, some 10 kilometres away from Sukkur.

WWF Indus Dolphin Preservation’s senior project officer Imran said that the turtles were released near Kalar village in a ceremony attended by a representative of the International Union of Conservation of Nature.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2014.