Turtle death: Wildlife warden demands inspection of Mumbai's Taraporewala Aquarium

The controversial death of the two turtles in a week at Taraporewala aquarium due to stomach infection seems to have opened a can of worms. While several animal welfare activists have raised questions over the management of Mumbai's only aquarium and have asked for a detailed investigation, a Wildlife warden on Wednesday has demanded an inspection of the facility.

DNA on Tuesday had reported about how two of the three turtles, including a hawksbill, which was the oldest turtle at Mumbai's famous Taraporewala aquarium died after developing stomach ailments that too within a week. While the third one, which is also reported to be in a critical condition, has been shifted to the Dahanu turtle rescue and rehabilitation centre.

Sunish Subramanian Kunju, honorary wildlife warden (Mumbai City) and founder of Plants Animals Welfare Society (PAWS-Mumbai), said that it's shocking that two turtles died all of a sudden and the third one that is critical had to be shifted to Dahanu. "Since turtles are Schedule I species, which are protected under wildlife laws, we want to understand what happened. Also, we have been receiving several complaints from visitors about the poor conditions of the tanks in which the fishes are kept and we would want to understand the way things are being managed," he said, adding that he has clearly written to the aquarium curator stating that during the visit, he would like to call a few marine experts, too.

Incidentally, Kunju, in June 2017, after receiving complaints from some student visitors, had carried out an inspection of the condition of the tanks and even reported to the officials, along with photographs, how he saw that in several enclosures, the paint in the background had peeled off and was lying inside the tanks and even the walls of several enclosures seemed to be covered with fungal growth. "I had complained to them and they got back to me saying that they will carry out improvements," he said.

Another animal welfare activist said that the aquarium was in a poor shape when it came to managing the aquatic species and the number of fishes dying was extremely high due to various reasons. "I even tried to offer my help and requested them that we can get more experts to come and suggest changes (for improving the condition), but the aquarium staff wants to keep things to themselves," said the activist.

When contacted, a senior official of the aquarium said that they were not aware about the letter from wildlife warden. "When we receive it, we will pass it to our top officials, including Commissioner, Fisheries and they will take a decision," said the official.