Black soft-shell turtles: Extinct in wild, but Hayagriva Madhab temple pond in Assam rekindles conservation hopes

The black soft-shell turtle, enlisted as ‘Extinct in the Wild’ category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the year 2002 has found a safer place for survival on the Hayagriva Madhab Temple premise in Assam. Located on the Monikut hills in Hajo of Kamrup district the temple has a significant role for survival of black soft-shell turtle found in the Madhab Pukhuri (pond) adjacent to the temple premise.

It was Pranab Malakar, the caretaker of the temple pond who took the initiative of preserving the turtle species by collecting eggs from the sandy banks of the pond and putting them in an incubator for rearing them during its initial phase. This helped increasing the turtle population and scripting the conservation success story.

The story of this rare species of turtles finding their to the temple pond dates back to the period of Ahom rule in Assam. Ahom kings, who used to revere turtles, donated them to temple. Devotees also used to donate these turtles to the temple. Some people in Assam donate turtles to temples when a new baby is born into their family, as they believe they live long.

Malakar shared his childhood memories associated with the Hayagriva Madhab temple pond where freshwater turtles were found in abundance. "I used to spend my childhood playing and swimming in the pond. Playing with the turtles was a regular activity during that period. Number of turtles was more nearly 30 years back and it used to bring glory to the place,” he says.

He further added that habitat loss, over exploitation and poor maintenance had led to decline in the population of turtles. "I took the initiative of collecting eggs laid by turtles on the sandy banks of the pond and later putting them into the incubator. I was successful in the conservation of turtle, its breeding and also bringing back the black soft-shell turtle which was declared extinct I still enjoy this work of conserving the turtles and saving it for the future generation”, he adds.

Inspired by the success of rearing the black soft-shell turtles in the temple pond, Help Earth, a non-government organisation came forward to support the initiative in a more scientific way. Help Earth has been constantly working on the turtles in temple ponds and deal with the challenges.

Dr. Jayaditya Purkayastha, Wildlife biologist and General Secretary, Help Earth, says, "because of the religious practice of donating turtles and tortoises, a number of temples in Assam have become safer places for conservation of the species. The Hayagriva Madhava temple is leading in this case, followed by Nagsankar temple of Biswanath district, Ugrotora temple situated in Guwahati, with around 20 different species of turtle found in these temples.”

Dr. Purkayastha says Hayagriva Madhava temple alone has around 13-14 species of turtle. He also feels that there is a lot to do for conservation of turtle and tortoises in these hotspots, where these species have been surviving in temple ponds.

The challenges, he says are multifarious. Natural habitat of turtles are hunted. Due to sand mining activities, lots of turtles nest are destroyed. Degradation of wetlands too, have been creating problem for turtle conservation.

In a temple premises too, turtle and tortoises have been facing challenges, he says. They are more prone to diseases. There are also evidences that in the name of beautification, the periphery of the temple pond have been concretized as a result of which turtles cannot lay eggs. One of the key challenges in conservation is that many of the turtles die holding eggs inside their body, he says.

Feeding non natural food for fun to the turtles such as bread, biscuits by the devotees who visit the pond after their worship in the temple have eventually been changing the biology of the turtles. This may have an impact on the reproductive cycle of the turtles, he fears.

Encouraged by the success story of conserving turtles and tortoises in temple pond, Help Earth has decided to use eighteen other ponds to increase the population of the freshwater turtle species.

Photo and text - Dipanwita Borah

(Dipanwita Borah is a student of M.A. ( 4th Semester) at the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University. She has produced this story as part of Internship at NEZINE. )