The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) have rescued five endangered turtles of various species being illegally sold at a pets’ shop in Sector F-10 and safely released the reptile into the Indus River in early August 2022.
The IWMB officials received a complaint from a citizen who went to the pet shop to buy some domesticated animal and found these turtles in that shop and contacted the Board to lodge action against the violator. The confiscated turtles included Indian roof shell turtle, Black pond turtle, crown river turtle, Indian flap shell turtle, and Ganges softshell turtle.
Pakistan has four soft shell and four hard shell turtle species of freshwater turtle inhabiting in various ecosystems in the country, he added.
The IWMB is strictly enforcing the Islamabad Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management Ordinance 1979 that bans trade of wild animals in Islamabad.
The Board is controlling illegal trade of wild animals and campaigning among the masses to contain illicit trade of wildlife species. The masses are encouraged to report on +92 309 530 2425 helpline number of the IWMB to report illegal trade of wild animals in Islamabad.
During the monsoon season turtle starts roaming on the greenbelts and open spaces of the capital due to humidity like recently a citizen spotted a turtle on the greenbelt in front of Islamabad Club and reported the Board which was safely relocated to a safer place.
There have been such accumulative complaints and reports submitted by the people pertaining to turtles and other wild animals which are safely rescued and rehabilitated at the IWMB office and then released into their natural habitat.
According to the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the Ganges Softshell Turtle and Indian Peacock Softshell Turtle were listed as vulnerable while the Indian Flapshell Turtle was listed as least concerned.
The IWMB also rescued five ‘Chakor’ and one grey partridge from Sihala and were handed over to Haripur Forest & Wildlife Department which were later released by Secretary Forests and Wildlife Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Abid Majeed into the wild.