The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Abandoned adult Olive Ridley rescued, released into the sea

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 03, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Abandoned adult Olive Ridley rescued, released into the sea

P. Oppili

INJURED: The Olive Ridley turtle that was found on a busy road in Alwarpet. — Photo: S. Thanthoni

CHENNAI: An adult Olive Ridley turtle that was found abandoned on a busy road at Alwarpet late on Wednesday was released into the sea on Thursday evening.

The police received information that the turtle, normally found in deep waters, was lying at the TTK Road-Murrays Gate Road junction at Alwarpet.

A team arrived, rescued the reptile and with the help of volunteers from the Blue Cross of India (BCI) took it to the BCI shelter at Velachery.

A city police official said that someone trying to smuggle the reptile could have run into a police team combing the area on Wednesday night and dumped the turtle on the roadside and escaped.

On Thursday, BCI volunteers took the reptile to the zoo, but were unable to accommodate the turtle there.

It was then transported to the Zoological Survey of India office on Santhome High Road, where again the authorities refused to house the reptile in their marine aquarium.

The 30 kg Ridley was brought back to the Blue Cross shelter and kept in a water tank filled with beach sand and seawater.

Ranjith Daniels, Director of a bio-diversity research organisation called Care Earth, who was at the Blue Cross, said the Ridley could be 30 years old and that it had sustained injuries on the left side of its head and scratches on the shell.

The reptile could have been injured by the propellers of a trawler.

Later, members of the Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network took the turtle to Elliots beach at Besant Nagar and released it into the waters.

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