CHENNAI: The state government has approved the forest department’s proposal to build a Turtle Conservation and Rehabilitation Centre at Guindy Children’s Park, which is currently undergoing a facelift, in Chennai.The project costing Rs 6.30 crore will have in-house treatment facilities to help injured turtles. “The centre will have facilities like turtle pool and turtle shed in addition to medical facilities for the rehabilitation of rescued turtles. It will act as a temporary home to sick and injured turtles before they are released back to their natural habitat,” said Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary, environment, forests and climate change department.
Supriya Sahu said, “Every year during nesting season, several Olive Ridley turtles get hit by fishing boat engines and their flippers get damaged as they get entangled in nets. Hitherto, we didn’t have any facility to shelter and treat these turtles. They have to either fend for themselves or die a painful death. We are trying to address this gap.”
Chief wildlife warden Srinivas R Reddy said the department doesn’t maintain a record of the number of injured turtles. “Besides treating the injured, the centre will also serve as a knowledge hub on turtle conservation,” he said. Sahu said a third-party audit will be done to evaluate the functioning of the centre and the fund will be released in installment on need basis. As part of the project, turtle migratory routes will be mapped using conventional flipper tagging and satellite telemetry, and turtle population at important nesting and foraging sites will be monitored. In-situ and ex-situ conservation will be promoted while assessing the impact of marine and coastal projects, Sahu said in the G.O.