Lucky turtles saved from the cooking pot back in the wild

Crates of turtles traveling down to Cat Tien National Park


On the 28th of May 2007 193 freshwater turtles of four different species, Hieremys annandalii, Siebenrockiella crassicollis, Cuora amboinensis and Heosemys grandis, were released at Cat Tien National Park . These lucky turtles had made the long journey south from the Turtle Conservation Centre (TCC) at Cuc Phuong National Park , Ninh Binh province to Cat Tien National Park in Dong Nai province. The four species released were not native to the areas where they were confiscated in north and central Vietnam , the long journey south was necessary to release the animals in suitable protected habitat.

Many of these turtles had been confiscated in illegal wildlife shipments whilst on their way to the cooking pot in China , in total 77 had been confiscated by Forest Protection Departments (FPD’s) from Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Da Nang and Quang Nam provinces. The remaining 116 turtles were of two species which had been successfully bred in captivity at the TCC and which had now grown to a size where they were able to defend themselves against predation in the wild.

7th June 2007

Mr. Bui Dang Phong releases a large Hieremys annandalii into Bau Sau wetland at Cat Tien National Park

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