Campaign to protect freshwater turtles launched in Tala, Satkhira

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Forest Department launched a public awareness campaign in Satkhira on 2 February 2025 to protect Bangladesh's endangered freshwater turtles and tortoises. Its slogan was "Turtles are friends of the environment; let them live in nature". Jagonews24 reported on 9 February that the campaign was due to move through Gopalganj, Madaripur and Khulna until 13 February. The organisers said illegal hunting, trade and eating had put every turtle and tortoise species in the country at risk of extinction.

According to the organisers, the media reported the illegal sale and smuggling of more than 34,000 turtles and tortoises between 2012 and 2024, which is why Bangladesh is described as a global hotspot of turtle trafficking. Hunting, trafficking, loss of habitat and consumer demand threaten almost every species.

The environmental news site Mongabay reported on 3 February 2025 that the 2015 IUCN Red List of Bangladesh assessed 30 turtle and tortoise species, listing 22 as threatened and 4 as near threatened. Globally endangered species often found in the trade include the Ganges softshell (Nilssonia gangetica), the spotted pond turtle (Geoclemys hamiltonii), the Indian eyed turtle and the Indian roofed turtle. The same report said the Forest Department's Wildlife Crime Control Unit seized 1,300 live turtles weighing 280 kg from a temporary storehouse at a market in Chandpur on 30 December 2024.

A project funded since 2022 by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) used media analysis and market surveys to map where turtles are traded and eaten. A survey of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of non-Muslim communities covered eight districts: Dhaka, Gazipur, Gopalganj, Madaripur, Jashore, Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira. Trade and consumption were highest in Satkhira, Khulna, Madaripur and Gopalganj, where about 50 percent of the households surveyed had eaten turtle or tortoise meat at least once in the previous year.

The research also found that almost none of the consumers and traders knew about the health risks, the legal restrictions or the ecological and cultural value of these animals. WCS therefore designed an educational campaign to reduce demand in the four districts. After talks with local people, it settled on three main messages:

• eating turtles and tortoises carries health risks;
• the wildlife law places restrictions on turtles and tortoises;
• turtles and tortoises matter for the environment and for local culture.

The campaign used door-to-door visits, radio programmes, loudspeaker announcements, film screenings, school events, turtle races, pot song performances and meetings with religious leaders, along with posters, stickers and leaflets.

The campaign was opened on the afternoon of 2 February at Tala Brojen Dey Government High School by Md Sanaullah Patwari, director of the Forest Department's Wildlife Crime Control Unit, with Satkhira district fisheries officer G M Selim in the chair. Tala is an upazila of Satkhira district in Khulna division, covering 337.24 square kilometres, with 326,111 people at the 2022 census.

In his welcome speech, WCS Bangladesh country director Dr Md Jahangir Alam said 26 of the country's 30 species were already at risk of extinction and faced new threats every day. They had to be protected by cutting consumer demand and enforcing the law more strictly, and everyone, including non-Muslim communities, had to take part, he said.

Sanaullah Patwari said: "Protecting Bangladesh's turtles needs a collective effort. I call on the government, journalists, religious leaders and all citizens to work together. Conserving these species means not only conserving them but protecting our heritage."

G M Selim stressed the role of local people: "Not disturbing or hunting them in their natural environment, not eating them, and not destroying their habitats such as ponds and water bodies are extremely important for protecting these species."

Photo: Holly Cheng / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Mongabay, Wikipedia