Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Announces Rescue of Rare Turtle That Was Presumed Lost in Vietnamese Flood

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo turtle conservationists are especially grateful this Thanksgiving after rescuing a critically endangered turtle that was presumed dead after being washed away in a recent flood in northern Vietnam.

The 150-pound Swinhoe’s soft-shell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei), which is the only known living specimen of its kind in the wild, was first discovered by experts with the Zoo’s Asian Turtle Program earlier this year. A few weeks ago, the rare turtle was swept away over a broken dam by severe flooding of the Dong Mo Lake near Hanoi, and the Zoo’s turtle team feared for its survival.

The soft-shell turtle amazingly survived the fall over the dam but was later caught in a net. A local fisherman began receiving offers of thousands of dollars for the turtle, and it seemed the rare turtle was destined for a soup pot.

Doug Hendrie and Tim McCormack, experts from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s Asian Turtle Program, negotiated with the fisherman for more than eight hours Tuesday before saving the Swinhoe’s turtle in exchange for a monetary reward. Hendrie, McCormack and others returned the turtle to its lake.

“It is truly amazing that this turtle could survive such an ordeal,” said Geoff Hall, the Zoo’s General Curator who visited the lake earlier this month. “We’re very thankful that it’s over now and the turtle has been returned to its natural habitat.”

The Swinhoe’s turtle, also known as a Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle, is the largest freshwater turtle in the world and was thought to have been extinct in the wild until the Zoo’s discovery earlier this year. Three others of the species remain in captivity, including two at a zoo in China and one in the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi.

The Swinhoe’s soft-shell turtle is considered by many in Vietnam to be a national treasure. The demise of this revered species is largely due to hunters who captured and killed them for food or to make traditional medicine from their bones. Loss of nesting habitats along major rivers and pollution also are to blame.

The Asian Turtle Program is a special conservation program supported by Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and funded by the Cleveland Zoological Society, in partnership with Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV).