Rare species of turtles to be released in Sunderbans

A bale of a rare species of Northern River Terrapin or Sunderbans Batagur turtles, which is considered critically endangered across the globe, will be released in the Sunderbans in mid-2014.
As part of its conservation programme, the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR) has been successful in its efforts in hatching the Batagur Turtles at the Sajnekhali Mangroves Interpretation Centre in the Sunderbans.
"In 2012, 33 Batagur turtles were hatched in Sajnekhali. In 2013, we hatched 56 Batagurs. These turtles will be released in the wild two years from the day of their hatching," STR field director Soumitra Dasgupta told PTI.
"So, five to seven months from now in the middle of 2014, we will release 15-20 turtles from the batch that was hatched in 2012. But before that we have to find out a suitable habitat for them," he said.

Asked why only 15-20 turtles would be released, Dasgupta said, "We need to see whether these turtles are able find a suitable habitat to exist."
The Batagur turtles, which are found in Sunderbans forests of India, Bangladesh and parts of Myanmar, have been declared critically-endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the oldest and largest global environmental organization of the world.
"Though these Batagur turtles belong to Sunderbans but they are on the verge of extinction. So we have to find out the right spot for their habitat," he said.
Human activity and global warming are considered to be the main reasons behind their way to extinction.