KOLKATA: An Olive Ridley turtle was rescued from the bank of Rupnarayan River at Mankur area under Bakshihat Panchayat in Howrah on Friday night. The sea turtle that usually inhabits the Indian and Pacific Ocean weighs around 40 kg.
Two local residents Raju Kotal and Badal Patra first spotted the turtle and informed Bagnan Police Station. The police contacted Howrah Zilla Joutha Paribesh Mancha which is usually associated with such animal rescue activities. Within a short time, Chitrak Pramanik and his allies Jhindan Pradhan, Sumanta Das and Titas Pradhan rushed to the spot and identified it to be an Olive Ridley. “The turtle looked extremely tired and was incapable of making any movement. There was a wound in the left side flipper too,” Chitrak said.
The turtle has been handed over to the forest officials and they have taken the animal to the animal rescue centre at Garchumuk for necessary treatment. A forest official in the district said that they will try their best to offer necessary medical treatment to the animal so that it becomes fit and can be released in the water. A few years back, two Olive Ridley turtles were found in the same area and one of them was killed by the local residents.
“A turtle geo tagged in April 2022 had migrated up till Geruwala Beach in western Sri Lanka, ten months after being tagged.
In 2023, a turtle that was geo tagged in April was located even farther at Colombo coast in Sri Lanka,” Basudev Tripathy, scientist, Zoological Survey of India said.