The Hanoi People's Committee assigned the Department of Science and Technology to preside over the establishment of a working group to collect samples for testing to determine the cause of the death of the Hoan Kiem turtle in Dong Mo Lake.
Speaking to the press on the morning of May 12, Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Dai said that after testing, the turtle that died in Dong Mo Lake was identified as a soft-shelled turtle of the Swinhoei species (also known as the Hoan Kiem turtle).
This turtle species is classified as critically endangered by the World and Vietnam Red Books. Currently, there are only two officially recorded individuals in the world, one at Suzhou Zoo (China) and the other at Xuan Khanh Lake (Hanoi).
Therefore, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment was assigned by Hanoi to preside over and assess the water quality and environment at the location where the dead turtle was found and at locations with large discharge sources into the lake (near the golf course). The Department must also report on the assessment of the results of water environment monitoring at Dong Mo and Xuan Khanh lakes (Son Tay town) before June 10.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed that the city assign the preservation of turtle carcasses to a competent unit or organization with conditions for preservation, conservation, and long-term storage to serve scientific research, display, and community education and communication.
The turtle carcass was sampled for DNA testing at the Vietnam Museum of Nature on the afternoon of April 24. Photo: Vo Hai
On April 23, two experts from the Hoan Kiem turtle conservation project discovered a dead turtle floating in Dong Mo Lake. Relevant agencies then collected it and made a report with the following basic information: the turtle had been dead for about 3 days; the total length of the turtle's body was 1.56 m, the length of the turtle's shell was 0.98 m, the width of the turtle's shell was 0.76 m and it weighed 93 kg. The next day, the dead turtle was sent for preservation at the Vietnam Museum of Nature, and the agencies also took samples for DNA testing.
An officer of the Hoan Kiem turtle conservation program once took a photo of two turtles at Dong Mo Lake on August 20, 2020. Therefore, after discovering the dead turtle, 5 researchers, 7 local fishermen and two foreign experts were on duty day and night by the lake in the hope of finding the remaining Hoan Kiem turtle.
Mr. Nguyen Tai Thang, program coordinator, said that the group has applied many modern and manual search methods such as direct observation combined with fish finders, camera traps; using drones or environmental gene methods (which once helped successfully search for the Hoan Kiem turtle in Xuan Khanh lake), but still have not had results.
The Hoan Kiem turtle in Dong Mo Lake was trapped and sampled for genetic analysis in October 2020. Photo: ATP
Previously, Hanoi had planned to conserve Swinhoei softshell turtles. In the period of 2021-2025, the city will study the biological characteristics, natural conditions, and suitable environment as a basis for proposing breeding pairs, then implementing conservation projects for the Hoan Kiem turtle species. However, the death of the Hoan Kiem turtle in Dong Lake on April 23 has made the plan to search for and pair this turtle species very difficult.
Vo Hai
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