The pious temple grounds in Assam are soon to become a safe haven for turtles too. In a bid to save the rare and endangered turtle species of the North east, wildlife conservationists and temple authorities have decided to let turtles breed in the temple ponds.
Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), Aaranyak and temple authorities have decided to make temple ponds a safe home for endangered turtles by scientific intervention. Turtles are a fast declining species and although temple ponds do have a wide variety of turtles till date no efforts have been made to observe and protect their population scientifically.
“Temple ponds are the genetic pools for many of the rare and endangered turtle species, which are no longer found in the wild. We are working for the long-term conservation of turtles in temple ponds to save their genetic resources,” Aaranyak head of herpetology division, Abhijit Das said.
There are about eight old temples, including Kamakhya and Haigrib Madhab at Hajo area in Kamrup district that houses different species of turtles.
TSA Director Shailendra Singh informed that the turtle conservation project will be run for five years in collaboration with the temple authorities.
“We will take inputs from temple authorities on what kind of intervention can be made so that turtles in the temple ponds are scientifically conserved,” Singh added.
Temple authorities said that the move is welcoming as the turtles will now be protected based on scientific knowledge. They also said that till now they have been saved because of religious beliefs.
“We welcome the scientific interventions for the conservation of turtles in our ponds. We were conserving the turtles out of religious belief. We had no idea that the temple ponds have some of the rarest and threatened species of turtles. There is a need to conserve these species using scientific methods,” said Monoranjan Baishya, a representative of the Haigrib Madhab Temple Management Committee.
Out of the 29 species of freshwater turtles in India, 21 species are found in the northeast alone. About 72 per cent of turtle species in the region are under the threatened category of theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature
Das also informed that in spite of so many endangered turtles inhabiting the North eastern states, there is little to no information about them.
This unique initiative is also wonderful because it will not only involve scientists and conservationists but the local community. Also, with temple encouraging conservation, the initiative can become a strong people’s movement with religious sentiments too aiding the process.
India needs more of these people powered ideas to save its precious biodiversity.
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