The Day I Saved a Terrapin  

Posted by: Nurul in

last friday, i went to Kerteh River with the MARU (MAngrove Research Unit) team...my aim was to look at the terrapins that can be found there...i was sooo excited because i never see a terrapin in the wild before...

the weather was no so good...it was raining when we started our journey...so they said that i might not be able to see the terrapins because they won't be basking that day...i was quite dissapointed...so i just try to enjoy the scenery and take some pictures of the mangrove species there...

at the end of our journey, suddenly we saw something struggling to free itself from a bait...at first we thought it was a fish so we try to go nearer and get the picture of the species...

when we appoach the species, we were shocked to see that it was actually a terrapin...one of its leg was stuck to the bait...so we try to get it and bring it to our boat...i tried grabbing the carapace...it was hard at first, but after a while the terrapin calm down and i tried to lift it up...but it was sooo heavy so i hv to get help from one of the crew...

the terrapin was brought into the boat safely and we cut the bait and removed it from its leg...luckily the bait didn't hurt the terrapin...i checked the claws, it was a painted terrapin, the species that i am working with for my master's project... i was soo happy to see it...then i took the measurement of the carapace...when i turn it upside down, i was shocked to see that one of its leg is missing...it looks like it has been cut...i was touched by the condition of its leg...

we took some of the picture of the terrapin and then released it back into the water...i felt very grateful because we were there to help the terrapin...it was a great experience for me that i can never forget...this is the first terrapin that i saved and i'm looking forward to save more....

here are some photos of the painted terrapin that we saved


one of its leg has been cut




"yah..go back to where u belong...take care..!be careful with those baits.."