Tortoise Traffic Turns Turtle

An illegal consignment of 500 star-backed tortoises, which have a lucrative market in the US, Far East and Europe, was seized in Kuala Lumpur. The animals have been sent for rehabilitation to Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological Park. Once the consignment was caught, the Union environment ministry was alerted and it chose Hyderabad as a temporary home for the reptiles; they will later be put in protected areas in Andhra. Found only in south India and Sri Lanka, the tortoises are fast becoming extinct