It was after midnight, on November 14 of last year, when Anand and Kiran gently picked up the first star tortoise to weigh her.
After her long ordeal of so much travel, she looked dazed and not too well. Anand Nair, the Supervisor of the WRRC Centre, and Kiran, the night caregiver, took great care while moving her and treating her.
Catching a poacher
Earlier that evening, the police, acting on a tip, had been waiting at the bus station in one of the most congested parts of the city of Bangalore, in south India. Tipped off, they were waiting for a poacher and caught him red-handed with his live cargo at the bus station as he got off the bus from the neighboring state, Tamil Nadu. While some of the police officers arrested the poacher and led him away, the other officers got on to a bus, carrying the bags of tortoises and arrived at the WRRC Centre (Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre) well after midnight. They got the tortoises as quickly as they could to the WRRC, but it was a long day for the officers – and even longer for the tortoises.
No wonder the first tortoise and all the others to follow were feeling dazed and disoriented. They’d been packed tightly into baggage without enough air or space, and no water. There were several hundred of them.
Sadly, over the next week, despite the best efforts of the caregivers at WRRC, a few of the tortoises died, unable to recover from the ordeal they had been through.
A long work-day
However, with the excellent care they received, all 531 of the remaining tortoises did fully recover. That November night, into the dawn hours, Anand and Kiran weighed each tortoise, recorded their weight, cleaned them off carefully, and rehydrated them. All this took nearly three hours.
Most of the tortoises weighed between 40 to 500 grams (from around one ounce – to just over one pound). Because it was November and quite cool for the stressed tortoises, heaters and heating pads were placed all around them to keep them warm through the rest of the night.
Like all cold-blooded animals, they need to keep warm when the weather is cold. After the physical examination, they were shifted to a large enclosure with feed like freshly grated vegetables: carrot, beetroot, sweet potato, cucumber, and greens like coriander. Wild grasses were also added to improve the variety.
Wildlife Protection in India
The poor, rural farmers who had caught the tortoises had been paid just ten rupees (13 U.S. cents) by the poacher for each tortoise.
The worldwide wildlife trade is a major catastrophe for the earth’s wildlife. Most captured wildlife do not survive, and the few that do are then sold illegally, often into the pet trade. Kept confined in unsuitable conditions, they will have lost their wild homes and may never again know the joy of living in the wild.
Fortunately, India, one of the richest countries on earth in terms of biodiversity, also has very enlightened wildlife laws, especially the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It is illegal to capture wildlife.
Soon, on December 13, many of the 531 rescued tortoises had bounced back and were feeling healthy and well again. They were ready for release thanks to the expert care and the healthy diet provided by the WRRC; the others would be released a few weeks later, just as soon as they were ready.
Return to the deep forest
That December morning, Dr. Roopa Satish, Chief Veterinarian and licensed wildlife rehabilitator, took several of them deep into the forest to an ideal site, where there was water available, far enough into the forest to be at a great distance from any human activity. There, with great care, she picked up each tortoise and then set him or her down among the tall grass at the foot of trees. She chose each spot very carefully. Each tortoise hesitated a moment, then picked up his feet and slowly made his way off into the woods. Free at last, enjoying breathing the fresh air, each tortoise made her way into the brush where she could find native plants and insects to eat, smell the fresh breeze, and begin her life anew, wild, and free again.
A couple of weeks later, a second release took place for the remaining tortoises – hundreds of lives saved – each one an individual living being.
Thanks to the dedicated police work and to the experienced professional care they received at the WRRC Centre, the tortoises are back home in the wild again, with the rest of their lives ahead of them. They can enjoy strolling along on the grass, in the shade or in the sunlight, just as nature intended.
And thank you, as well, for your very kind support for the forest animals of India!
Photo Credit:
Davidvraju
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The photo at the top is of a different tortoise, not one of the WRRC tortoises.
The video shows the actual WRRC tortoises.