Chennai top node in tortoise trafficking network, says study 

A study titled From pets to plates, published in the September edition of Oryx, The International Journal of Conservation, found that trafficking of soft-shell turtles for meat was predominantly domestic in nature, with the international trafficking of the reptile from or to India almost restricted to Bangladesh. 

GUWAHATI

Chennai is the highest-ranked node in the tortoise and hard-shell turtle trafficking network fuelling the global pet trade, a new study has found. 

Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, Agra, and two districts of West Bengal — North 24 Parganas and Howrah — close to the India-Bangladesh border also rank high, the study published in the September edition of Oryx, The International Journal of Conservation, said. 

The study titled From pets to plates also found that the trafficking of soft-shell turtles for meat was predominantly domestic in nature, with the international trafficking of the reptile from or to India almost restricted to Bangladesh. 

The most frequent trafficking links in the soft-shell turtle trafficking network were from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to unspecified districts in West Bengal and from North 24 Parganas to unspecified districts in Bangladesh, it said. 

The authors of the study are Ramya Roopa Sengottuvel, Aristo Mendis, Nazneen Sultan, Shivira Shukla, Anirban Chaudhuri, and Uttara Mendiratta, all associated with the Counter Wildlife Trafficking Programme of the Wildlife Conservation Society-India. 

‘Asian turtle crisis’ is a term often used to describe the current state of tortoises and freshwater turtles (TFTs) in the largest continent on earth. Wild populations of TFTs have suffered immensely due to the onslaught of habitat destruction and illegal and unsustainable harvest, the researchers said.