Visakhapatnam: On Sunday, 16 star turtles were found in his Kurma (Tortoise) Avatar, died in a ninth-century temple, one of his kind in the world, in the Srikakulam district on Sunday.
Devotees found burns and bodies of seven or eight turtles thrown behind the temple executive on Monday. Temple managers are raising 180 turtles.
Regional forest official S. Venkatesh visited the temple with livestock officials on Monday, and he told the correspondent that the turtle had died for a period of time and no new deaths. Veterinary doctors were unable to perform an autopsy after the autopsy was left because only the shell was left and there were no internal organs. He added that it is difficult to determine the cause of the death of these turtles.
He said the temple entrusted the protection of the tortoises to the Green Mercy Foundation, a non-governmental organization located in Srikakulam.
Despite ongoing demands for the handover of turtles to the forest department for protection, temple authorities are reluctant to say that turtles are related to religious sentiments that date back to centuries.
The DFO said the temple authorities went to the High Court in 2011 to reject the attempt by the Ministry of Forests to take over the protection and obtain a favorable order.
He said the issue of this issue has been notified to the Chief Wildlife Warden, who may recommend better protection measures or require temple officials to hand it over to the forest department for better maintenance.
Pradeep Kumar Nath, founding president of the Visaka Conservation and Care Animals Association, said there is no proper security for star turtles in the temple. He added that the temple authorities should hand it over to the Forest Department or the Indira Gandhi Zoo.
Since 2016, stellar turtles have been endangered and have been listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.
