SINGAPORE – More than 2,500 turtles found in the luggage of a man travelling to India were sent back to Singapore and put down by the authorities after they were found to be infected with the salmonella bacterium.
The man, identified as 26-year-old Adiakkalasamy Vadivel, is believed to be part of an international animal smuggling ring, and was on his way to the southern Indian city of Bengaluru in Karnataka state, Indian daily The Hindu reported on July 13.
Customs officials in Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport caught the man and found the turtles in his check-in baggage on July 12, the report added.
It also said the man had said he was asked to hand over the turtles to someone waiting outside the airport.
In response to queries, Singapore’s National Parks Board (NParks) said: “Indian authorities deported the red-eared sliders back to Singapore and more than 300 of the over 2,500 red-eared sliders that were retrieved did not survive.”
The turtles were then sent to the NParks Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation, where a veterinarian assessed them and found they were infected with pathogenic salmonella.
In humans, the bacterium can lead to an acute onset of fever, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea and, sometimes, vomiting. Symptoms are usually mild, but in children and elderly patients, the associated dehydration can become severe and life-threatening, said the World Health Organisation on its website.
NParks said the bacterium poses a public health and biosecurity concern and that is why the turtles were “humanely put down and disposed of to prevent the potential spread of disease”.
The red-eared slider is a semi-aquatic turtle native to North America, and is considered an invasive species in many parts of the world.
In Singapore, it is illegal to release red-eared sliders into ponds and reservoirs.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction