>>> Hopes raised for conservation of world’s rarest turtle in Vietnam >>> New individual of world’s rarest turtle found in Hanoi The Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in collaboration with the Asian Turtle Program (ATP) of Indo-Myanmar Conservation (IMC) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have made dramatic progress to possibly prevent the extinction of the Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtle. At a Hanoi workshop last week, scientists revealed that genetic testing has confirmed a female turtle captured last October in Dong Mo Lake in suburban Hanoi is definitively a Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtle. This confirmation means that in addition to the one known male Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtle at Suzhou Zoo in China, there is now the female captured in Dong Mo Lake. Authorities believe there is at least one more of these turtles in Dong Mo Lake and yet another in nearby Xuan Khanh Lake. Conservationists hope to at least to capture and determine the sex of the turtle in both Dong Mo and Xuan Khanh Lakes this coming spring. The mission team photographed with the giant turtle captured in October 2020. (Photo credit: ATP/IMC) Ultimately, conservationists aim to ensure at least one male and female are given a chance to breed to ensure this species can return from the brink of extinction. Nguyen Huy Dang, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: “This is a very important mission and it needs to be done effectively. We have been seeking advice and consultation from the Hanoi People’s Committee to promulgate guiding documents and to collaborate with international organisations to execute our development and conservation plan of rafetus swinhoei. Hanoi Department of Fisheries has been assigned to continue implementing the Plan #200 from the Hanoi People’s Committee to revive and preserve the Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtle, a rare, precious and endangered species listed in Vietnam’s Red …
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