Trading turtles and tortoises is as serious a crime as trading elephants and leopards in India – as these animals are all placed under Schedule I to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 of India. Their trade might lead to a minimum of three years of imprisonment extendable to seven years. In reality however, it goes without saying that trades in turtles and tortoises would be much easier and therefore more prominent because of their size and the fact that they are low-maintenance.

According to a report prepared by TRAFFIC, an international wildlife trade monitoring organisation, a minimum of 100,000 tortoises and freshwater turtles were illegally traded in India between 2009 and 2019.

Recently, the Indian police tracked down two suspects attempting to smuggle over 1,300 Indian softshell turtles to the animal markets in West Bengal, where the turtles would likely be either sold as meat there to the locals, or exported across the border. The conditions that the turtles were put under during the transportation were rather cruel and stressful – stuffed all into 37 gunny bags. This resulted in about 30 of the turtles found dead after they were seizure by the Indian authorities, a spokesman from the Indian Forest Service and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of New Delhi said.

But it is not just the meat, for which these reptiles are traded. There is also a superstitious and mythological value attached to them. “According to Hindu mythological text, they are said to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu, so there is a belief that with it, goddess Laxmi-- the goddess of money and prosperity-- would also come along,” Mr Louies said. “Across different cultures, they are believed to bring in luck.”

In fact, it is all too common that turtles are put under extremely poor conditions while being transported during illegal trades. For instance, they are commonly taped up and not fed for days. This led to “very very high” trade mortality according to Aniruddha Mookerjee, a consultant wildlife adviser for the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at Oxford University.

Mookerjee also observed that even where these turtles are rescued, the fact that whether they are water turtles or dry land turtles might not be apparent to those taking care of them. This sometimes led to the reptiles being released in the water body despite the fact that they might not be suitable for this kind of environment, and as a result they drown and die.

The lack of knowledge in handling these rescued turtles has also led to their release back to the nature before they are physically ready. As they have been in a crowded and high-stress environment during transportation, these rescued turtles would have to be relaxed and conditioned by medical experts first before being sent back into the wild. Even if they are in fact ready, releasing alien turtles into freshwater bodies could be harmful to the native population, when they dominate other reptiles in the area.

A  study published by the WildCRU showed that in 2014 alone, at least 55,000 Indian star tortoises were poached in India. Their trade is prominent not just because they are deemed ornamental species, but also they are in demand in parts of China as a delicacy.

In a boost to India’s bid to protect the endangered species, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of the United Nations banned illegal international trade of Indian star tortoise in August 2019, moving the species from Appendix II to Appendix I and thus giving it the highest level of international protection from commercial trade.

Nonetheless, despite such enhanced protection, there seems to be no guarantee that the species will be afforded better protection in India in the near future. According to the spokesman from the Indian Forest Service and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of New Delhi, there is simply no robust system to enforce the laws and regulations that appear to provide protection to the Indian star tortoise and other similar turtles and tortoises alike. The lack of an intelligence unit within the relevant forest administration in India is particularly concerning. Additionally, it was also pointed out that law enforcement in where the trade of these reptiles usually take place, including crowded places like towns and villages located alongside the riverbank, is insufficient.

Courtesy of Louis Cheung.