The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Star tortoise smuggling has declined, authorities claim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Star tortoise smuggling has declined, authorities claim

P. Oppili

Authorities seized 3,300 of the reptiles till September this year

CHENNAI: While wildlife activists express serious concern over the smuggling of star torrtoises, official statistics show that there has been a decrease in the number of cases of smuggling in the last two years. However, the number of star tortoises seized has gone up, officials claim.

The Wildlife officials have rescued 3,065 star tortoises during 2003 and the number has come down to 1,012 last year. Till September this year, the authorities have seized 3,300 star tortoises from the exit points and those abandoned.

The change is attributed to the increased vigil at the exit points such as airport and seaport.

The Wildlife authorities say that all the security agencies in both these places were well aware of the smuggling.

Hence, the security has been tightened at the exit points, they said.

However, they agreed that adequate protection is needed in the forest areas from where the specimens are collected systematically.

More in Chittoor

It is commonly believed that star tortoises are found abundantly in forests of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh; from there they are brought to the city and then smuggled to Singapore and Malaysia.

However, the officials say the tortoises are found in Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram districts in Tamil Nadu and also in a few forest areas in Karnataka.

The star tortoises are collected between mid-January and February and from mid-July to November.

Authorities note that most of the seized star tortoises were collected from the wild.

But, one consignment of star tortoises recently seized by them led to the suspicion that the reptiles could have been hand-reared, as their shells were softer than the ones from the wild.

The star tortoises are sought for many reasons — to be used in traditional Chinese medicine, as a delicacy in South East Asian nations or to be reared as pets in the West.

The shells of adult reptiles are also used for making ornamental boxes, the authorities said.

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