Local man Huỳnh Chánh.poses next to the sea turtle that got stuck in his fishing net on the Cổ Cò River. — VNA/VNS Photo
SÓC TRĂNG — An endangered sea turtle was found in a fishing net in Mỹ Xuyên District in the southern Mekong Delta province of Sóc Trăng on Saturday.
The creature, which weighed 34 kilograms, was stuck in a net dropped in the Cổ Cò River by local man Huỳnh Chánh.
Chánh said when he saw the creature he thought it was a giant soft-shell turtle – a kind of freshwater turtle. As it was quite heavy, his children had to help him to remove the turtle from the net.
Later the same day, another local man purchased the turtle for VNĐ10 million (US$430) so he could free it back into the sea.
However, the provincial Forest Range Bureau, which also takes care all the matters related to wild species, was only informed about the case next day.
According to the bureau’s chief Trần Tấn Nam, the creature was listed in Việt Nam’s Red Book of Threatened Species. The confirmation was made after careful examination of photos taken of the animal.
Nam stressed that local people needed to inform authorities whenever they found any wild species so they could be sent to sanctuaries before being released back into the wild. — VNS
OVietnam