An injured Indian flapshell turtle, found in Masterpara area under Sreemangal upazila headquarters of the district on Tuesday night, was released to the wild after treatment yesterday.

"Hearing from journalists that the turtle, caught by a local on Tuesday night, was sold to a man, we rescued it today and arranged its primary treatment. Later we released it to Lawachhara forest,”  said Tabibur Rahman, assistant conservator of forests Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department.

The scientific name of flapshell turtle is lissemys punctata, he added.

Md Nurul Mohaiman Milton, general secretary of environmentalist journalists forum, said, “We appreciate that the turtle was left in Lawachhara. We should think about the ecological health of this forest. There are many cases where wild animals have been found in the villages around Lawachhara.”

Earlier on September 8 in 2015, a freshwater turtle was rescued from a local who bought it from a fisherman in the upazila, said sources at Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department.

In the same way, a fisherman sold a turtle in Sreemangal fish market on October 25 the same year and locals released it later.

Environmentalists have demanded proper steps for protection of forests and biodiversity spots, in addition to implementation of the legal frameworks under Wildlife Protection Act.

Divisional Forest Officer (wildlife) Mihir Kumar Doe said the Indian flapshell turtle eats frogs, fishes, shrimp, snails, aquatic vegetation, plant leaves, flowers, fruits and grass. Its population is threatened due to destruction of wetlands.

The Indian flapshell turtle lives in shallow, quiet, and often stagnant water bodies and tends to burrow into the soft sandy or muddy bottoms. It plays an important role in aquatic ecosystems by feeding on snails, insects, and fragments of dead animals, he said.