DAILY NEWS & ANALYSIS (Mumbai, India) 01 November 10 Tortoises: Revered, but slaughtered (HM Chaithanya Swamy)
Bangalore (DNA): Villagers in Bangalore’s rural neighbourhood who are otherwise deeply religious are falling to the lure of money to sell much-worshipped tortoises which then end up on plates of select customers at dhabas on the city’s outskirts.
This illegal practice has been continuing for years in violation of the Wildlife Act of 1972 which protects these amphibians as endangered species.
The villagers are selling tortoises despite worshipping them as ‘Koorma Avatara’, the vehicle of Lord Vishnu. Shepherds from the villages collect and sell tortoises for just Rs100 each to middlemen, who then sell the meat at an exorbitant rate of Rs500 per kg to dhabas.
The dhabas, in turn, serve tortoise meat – apart from that of pond terrapins – for rates as high as Rs1,000 per plate as the meat is considered to have very high medicinal value. The red meat contains vitamin B and is rich in proteins. It simulates the body and increases the white blood corpuscle count to enhance the body’s immunity. A senior official of the forest cell told DNA, “The tortoises are killed in a very cruel manner. The cooks put live tortoises into boiling water to let them die a slow, painful death to make it easy to separate the flesh from the hard shell.”
And all this happens clandestinely. Only select customers are served tortoise meat, that too after they order the dish by using code words which are closely guarded secrets. These activities came unveiled after CID sleuths of the forest cell nabbed two natives of Vemagal village of Kolar district while transporting 16 live star tortoises (whose meat is much in demand) and four pond terrapins for sale to dhabas. The seizure took place in KR Puram police limits on Thursday. The tortoises and terrapins were being sold for a total of Rs20,000.
The culprits face up to six years imprisonment, said Sunil Duggar, committee member, Akhila Karnataka Prani Daya Sangha. KR Puram police inspector HG Tippeswamy said the rescued tortoises will be kept in Bannerghatta National Park.
Tortoises: Revered, but slaughtered