Around 20 turtles that include the endangered hawksbill, green and olive ridley that have been stranded in the lake have managed to survive as there is no dearth of food in the form of sea grass and jelly fish here. A team of researchers from the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), who found the turtles in the lake, believe these marine reptiles may have wandered into the lake in search of food, but failed to find their way back due to the culverts that narrowed the canal mouth. Though no cases of mortality have been reported among these turtles, they have no future in this lake as the lack of sand banks limit their possibility of breeding here.
The WTI team along with the state Forest Department is in the process of tagging the turtles and then releasing them into the Gulf of Kutchh.
"After we release them back into the sea with satellite tagging, we will be able to map the sea grass beds of the Gulf of Kutchh. This will be an additional benefit of this project," said B. C. Choudhury, wildlife biologist, WTI.
Author: Purva Variyar.
