ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) rescued an endangered spotted turtle that was being sold online on Saturday.

The IWMB was tipped off by Mohibullah, a student, who found the advertisement for the turtle and informed the board. He has passed on such information to wildlife officials on several occasions.

“We approached the sellers as possible buyers. A deal was struck and the black spotted turtle was saved from being sold on the black market,” IWMB wildlife field official Zaheer Khan told Dawn. The turtle was seized in Alipur Farash.

More than 10,321 specimens have been seized in Asia between 2014 and 2016, the IWMB said, adding that the black spotted turtle trade tripled in 2015 compared to 2013. Seizures were made in seven countries, and nearly 50pc of the seizures involved smuggling using commercial flights.

Pakistan is the fourth out of the seven countries, after India, Thailand and Singapore, where the most seizures have been made in this period.

Other countries where the trade of this endangered species is common are Hong Kong, Bangladesh and China. The turtle is sought after as a pet and traditionally for meat in East Asia.

Commercial trade is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

It is also illegal to keep the black spotted turtle as pet in Pakistan under the Islamabad Wildlife Protection Act, Mr Khan said. The species is a freshwater animal, he said, adding that it will be released in the wild soon.

A case has not been registered against the individuals selling the animal. The fine for illegally trading in the black spotted turtle ranges between Rs200,000 and Rs300,000.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2019