'Threatened' turtle species seized from Kolkata market
India: The officials of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and state forest department's wildlife crime control unit in a joint raid rescued 15 Indian softshell turtles, a threatened species, from a trader in Galiff Street on Monday.The arrested trader has been identified as Biswajit Prasad alias Bapi. An…
Publisher: The Times of India
India: The officials of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and state forest department's wildlife crime control unit in a joint raid rescued 15 Indian softshell turtles, a threatened species, from a trader in Galiff Street on Monday.
The arrested trader has been identified as Biswajit Prasad alias Bapi. An official said that recently they had seized several threatened species of turtles and tortoises from two traders in Sodepur. "While grilling them we got several leads. Working on those leads, we made the arrest on Monday," said an official.
The Indian softshell turtle (Nilssonia gangetica), or Ganges softshell turtle is a species of softshell turtle found in South Asia in rivers such as the Ganges, Indus and Mahanadi. This vulnerable turtle reaches a carapace length of up to 94 cm (37 in). It feeds mostly on fish, amphibians, carrion and other animal matter, but also takes aquatic plants.
These turtles are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, the same protection status enjoyed by the tiger. The possession of animals listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 may attract imprisonment of three to seven years.