This is something that doesn’t happen all the time! Not long ago, Ashley stumbled upon a stray turtle walking somewhere outside our Lakeview house. 🙂
It might have walked away from the lake so Ashley was carrying it back, only to realize its legs were injured and there were scratches underneath the shell, possibly from walking on the hot tar road.
So she decided to take it back home and nurse it to health. 🙂
Initially shy, the stray turtle (we name it Nomad Kura) now stays in our backyard pond with the rest of our red ear sliders. Ashley and I discussed this over the phone and since it’s a stray animal, it would be best to let it go again after it is fully healed.
Days later, Ashley read about the illegal pet trade going on in Malaysia and coincidentally this turtle type was mentioned. It’s called the “Malayan Box Turtle” although it goes by many other names.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Its current species status is “threatened” or “vulnerable”! There was an article about it in The Star last Saturday (10th December 2011) – I am unable to find the article online but this older article pretty much sums it:
http://thestar.com.my/news/
In short, this turtle is a prime target for poachers. Common tactics of duping include a guy coming over to tell you it’s illegal to possess it; he will take it away and what you don’t know is that he’s a poacher.
That said, we cannot risk returning the turtle to the lake since people go there to fish now. As of now, we are taking care of Nomad Kura until further notice. Fortunately, for a stray animal, Nomad Kura seems to adapt well with our pond and our other turtles! 🙂