Wildlife department searching for rare yellow turtle

Reptile surfaced in Badin and was released in a pond

HYDERABAD: Wildlife department officials are searching for the yellow turtle which was spotted by villagers in Badin and released into a pond on Monday.

The turtle was found crawling in a muddy ditch at some distance from a fish pond in Ghulam Mohammed Farooqui village in Badin.

Siddiq Bhurgari, a resident of the same village, said that later the turtle was released in a pond.

Meanwhile, Sindh wildlife department deputy director Ghulam Sarwar Jamali told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that his team was searching for the turtle in the pond.



"We have so far only seen some photographs of the turtle. So, I can't give a comment on what type of turtle it is," Jamali said while acknowledging he has never seen a turtle of this colour in any part of Sindh.

Jamali said after the turtle is found from the pond the wildlife department will engage experts to examine its health. "There is also a possibility that toxic effluent from the sugar mills in Badin might have caused the change in its colour. But we can't say anything with certainty until we examine it."



Although the Sindh Wildlife Department is yet to come up with its assessment about the turtle, the animal resembles Albino yellow bellied sliders or some related species.



"There are fish ponds in our village but I bet no villager saw a thing [turtle] of this [yellow] colour before," said Ahmed Ali, a local resident.

"Earlier in the day, we informed the wildlife department's game warden [about the turtle]. But no one turned up," Bhurgari added.

The locals put the turtle on the map by uploading its photographs and videos on the social media.

Deputy director wildlife Jamali told that the team searched three ponds in the village but the turtle could not be found. He added that the search will continue on Wednesday.

According to Jamali, the turtle's dark yellow colour seems different from the Albino turtles.

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