Two rare turtles released into central Vietnam's Sao La Nature Reserve

On the morning of December 12, the Forest Protection Sub-Department of Thừa Thiên Huế (now Huế city) in central Vietnam, together with the Sao La Nature Reserve in the former A Lưới district, released two rare turtles into a forest sub-compartment of the reserve.

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Among the wild animals released this time by the Forest Protection Sub-Department and the Sao La Nature Reserve were two Bourret's box turtles, also known as Central Vietnamese box turtles (Cuora bourreti).

A close-up of a Bourret's box turtle
released into the Sao La Nature Reserve

The species is listed as critically endangered in both Vietnam's Red Data Book and the global Red List. Endemic to central Vietnam and adjacent areas of Laos, it lives mainly in evergreen forests. The turtles had been found and seized by forest rangers in Huế at Thương Bạc park, 45 Trần Hưng Đạo Street, Huế. Hunting, trading or keeping these protected animals is illegal in Vietnam and can lead to criminal prosecution.

Authorities also released a rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta Zimmermann), which a network run by the Education for Nature center had found in Huế.

Earlier, forest guards at the Sao La Nature Reserve had found and rescued a red-shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus) while on patrol. This species is also listed as endangered in Vietnam's Red Data Book and the global Red List and is in need of protection.

Forest guards from the Sao La Nature Reserve in Huế
release a turtle back into its natural habitat.

Since early October 2011, forest guards at the reserve, working with the A Lưới district forest ranger unit, have carried out three patrol and enforcement sweeps. They confiscated two chainsaws, destroyed 18 m³ of assorted timber in the forest, dismantled 10 car inner tubes and 10 makeshift camps, and expelled 30 people who had entered the forest illegally.

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This article was translated from Vietnamese. Read the original