Olive turtle lands at Bandra after high tides hit the city

Olive turtle lands at Bandra after high tides hit the city, animal lovers and alert citizens help in its rescue

Author: Pawan Sharma Photo Credits: Utsav Maru

@ RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare)

16/6/2014

At the rescue site

At BSPCA 

During rescue

A record shot for RAWW

At BSPCA 

An Olive ridley turtle was rescued from Bandra west by our rescue team yesterday. A distress call was forwarded to us regarding a big turtle which had landed on the beach attracting attention of the locals.  

The turtle was spotted off the shore late in the morning when the locals made a few attempts to help it go back in the water. But the attempts failed as the turtle came back two times after which followed low tide making things more difficult.

Another tragedy with the turtle was it had only three flippers/claws, but there were no fresh wounds which indicated that the turtle was successfully surviving in the wild.

Our rescue team soon rescued the turtle, immediately intimated the forest department and admitted it to BSPCA as it had infrastructural facilities for the turtle nearest to the rescue site.

"The turtle was rescued safely and admitted to BSPCA with an intimation to the forest department" said Utsav Maru, rescue team member of RAWW.

The vets have suggested that it should be sent to a permanent rescue center as there are chances that it may come back to the shore after release, however they have also said that it is fit and can be released back to its natural habitat too. Currently the discussions and strategies are in process and soon the decision will be taken by the forest department.

"The turtle has no fresh wounds and is declared fit by the vets, however absence of one claw has raised concerns and questions about its release. It can be released back to wild or can ever be sent to a permanent rescue center for life time. The decision will be taken by the forest department" said Rushil Bhatt, GM of RAWW. 

But then again some things should be left upto the wild, nature will take care of it very well.

Hey watchout! there is a snake outside the pizza shop.

Hey watchout! there is a snake outside the pizza shop.

Author: Pawan Sharma Photo Credits: Vivek Shetia

 @ RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare)

15/6/2014

The monsoons have just slowly started and reptiles are spotted all over. There was a distress call on our helpline number where the caller asked for immediate rescue help as a large snake was spotted on the main road just opposite to the Dominos pizza outlet next to Vasant Oscar at L.B.S Marg, Mulund.

Helpline: Hello.

Caller: Hello, I am talking from L.B.S Marg near Dominos pizza outlet at Mulund.

Helpline: Yes sir, How can we help you.

Caller: There is a large snake on the main road just opposite to the pizza shop and has attracted a large crowd. I am worried that the snake may be harmed by the people and in return it may harm people or may meet with an accident. Can you please help out.

Helpline: Yes, sure please keep an eye on the snake , our rescue team will soon be there.

On responding to the call a rescue team soon reached the spot for help. A 7 feet Indian rock python was rescued from the streets.

More than 200 people on streets to have a look at the magnificent reptile and  with traffic jammed on both sides were set to relieve by our rescue team which responded very well to the situation.

The snake was soon registered with the forest department and will be released back to the wild.

Indian rock python is protected under schedule 1 of the WPA (Wildlife Protection Act) 1972 and has similar level of protection that a tiger has.

"This is just the starting of the season and large reptiles like pythons have started coming out of hibernation. We received some more calls of python sightings from other societies and colonies of Mulund. The distress calls will increase soon keeping our rescue team busy at work which is ready for the season" said Chinmay Joshi,  rescue & core team member of RAWW.