Over one lakh tortoises and freshwater turtles, particularly Indian star tortoise, have been poached to cater to the illegal live pet trade, food and medicines market in the last 10 years, according to a latest fact sheet prepared by TRAFFIC, an international wildlife trade monitoring network.

While the majority of the turtles were consumed by mendicants and gourmets, a portion of these was also seized. The Indian star tortoise, marked as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was high in demand as reflected in the seizure quantum.

The Indian star tortoise accounted for 49 per cent of the total identifiable individuals seized, followed by Indian Softshell Turtle (26 per cent) and Indian Flapshell Turtle (15 per cent).

The Black Spotted or Spotted Pond Turtle accounted for 9 per cent of the total seizure. In total, 14 Indian species of turtles and tortoises were found to be traded.

The report noted that Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal together accounted for more than 60 per cent of all reported seizures from 19 States and 2 Union Territories.

 “A minimum of 1,11,310 tortoises and freshwater turtles entered illegal wildlife trade in a 10-year period i.e. September 2009-September 2019. This equates to more than 11,000 individuals in illegal wildlife trade every year or at least 200 per week since 2009. Considering that an unknown proportion of illegal wildlife trade presumably goes undetected, the actual numbers could be much higher,” an official from the TRAFFIC  tried to bring home the point.

Unauthorised extraction from the wild for illegal trade as pets, and for food and medicine, are the main drivers of this trade. The findings were revealed through a factsheet “Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles Under Siege” that provides an insight into poaching and illegal trade of tortoises and freshwater turtles in India, he said.

Ironically, the illegal trade continues blatantly even though most of the turtles and tortoise species of India are protected under various Schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, under which hunting, trade or any other form of utilisation of the species or their body parts and derivatives is banned. All turtle and tortoise species from India are also listed under CITES regulating their international trade.

At the 18th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18) held in August this year, Indian Star Tortoise was up-listed to Appendix I from Appendix II owing to its over-exploitation. The species is categorised as “vulnerable” by the International Union of Conservation of Nature and a decline greater than 30 per cent was predicted by 2025 if the exploitation continued or expanded.

Dr Saket Badola, Head of TRAFFIC’s India office and author of the study said, “Tortoises and freshwater turtles in India are probably the most traded wildlife species in terms of their numbers in illegal trade.

“It is extremely worrisome to see the scale of the illegal domestic market for these species for the pet trade and for meat consumption. The size of seizures of Indian species within India is indicative of a well-organised network of collectors, transporters and traffickers operating this trade. Immediate action both in terms of law enforcement initiatives as well as awareness about the species concerned is required”.

Sumanth Bindumadhav, wildlife campaign manager for the Humane Society International-India agreed pointing out that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh alone ship out about 55,000 tortoises every year on average. These tortoises end up in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF-India talked about the critical role these protected species play to protect the ecosystem. “Turtles and tortoises are mainly scavengers and keep aquatic ecosystems clean while some species help keep populations of snails and insects in check.

Dr Shailendra Singh, Director of Turtle Survival Alliance India Programme stressed on training wildlife law enforcement agencies in identifying the species in trade to combat its poaching and illegal trade.