*typo corrected, link fixed 01/07/08
The New York Times tells the tale of an endangered turtle, a Batagur baska or "Asian river terrapin". The endangered species was re-discovered in 2001 in Cambodia. King Norodom Sihanouk endorsed a program for the turtle's preservation and turtles were radio tagged. (this article previously stated that his son, Norodom Sihamoni, who only came into power in 2004, was resposible for the program). Poachers recently smuggled one of the tagged turtles to Vietnam. There, officials confiscated it in a raid along with some other more run-of-the-mill turtles. One inspection officer noticed the large size and unfamiliar features and contacted environmentalists who identified the turtle as one of the rare species. The batagur is one of Asia's largest freshwater turtles and this one weighed over 30 pounds. It will be returned to its home habitat, a river in Cambodia, which was identified by its radio tags. There it will join an estimated 2-8 female Asian river terrapins.
Part of this story is a familiar one. In small villages in South East Asia and China, as well as other remote areas of the world, people hunt, fish (and poach) whatever they can to eat and sell. They often don't discriminate between endangered and unendangered species, especially when there's profit to be gained from a rarefied feature like a tusk or hide or hoof or leaf or root.
