Entangled Ridley turtle rescued

Reptile was found trapped in a plastic bag by WWF staffer

KARACHI: A turtle found entangled in a plastic bag was rescued and released into the waters of Kund Malir, Lasbela district, Balochistan, the World Wide Fund for Nature - Pakistan (WWF-P) told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.

According to the WWF-P, this is the first time that a specie called the 'Ridley' turtle was found entangled in a plastic bag.

Around 150 nautical miles from Karachi, the turtle was rescued by a trained fisherman of the WWF, Amir Rahim, on Sunday. The animal, which was found trapped, was taken on board the ship and released back into the sea. Speaking to The Express Tribune, WWF-P technical adviser Muhammad Moazzam Khan said that the plastic bag in the recent rescue seems to be of rice. It seems as if the plastic bag was flung into the sea from some big ship, he said.



Khan further said that the Ridley turtle falls under the category of vulnerable species and may soon be classified among endangered species. "Around 12 years ago, the Ridley turtles stopped coming into Pakistani waters to lay eggs even though the presence of [these] turtles could still be found," said Khan.

Around 28,000 turtles of the Ridley species have been released back into waters since 2013. "The fact that the Ridley turtle has been rescued far off from Kund Malir is evidence of how far into the waters these species can be found," he said.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st,  2016.