VietNamNet Bridge – The turtle is fast becoming one of the more popular species of ornamental animals in Vietnam. Consequently, rare turtles are being hunted.
Turtle – new favourite pet
“I’m keen on turtles. I have bred many species of turtles, from a tiny red-eared turtle which is now as big as a big bowl and very mean to yellow mountainous turtles. Several days ago I bought three yellow mountainous turtles (Indotestudo elongata) near Independence Palace. Now I want to buy some more kinds of Testudinidae turtles but I don’t where to buy them. Please tell me if you know.”
“I bought a very beautiful Pyxidea mohotii turtle on the occasion of my trip to Cuc Phuong National Park. But I don’t know how to feed it. Please tell me some tricks. Thank you very much!”
“I have a Cuora trifasciata turtle and I want to exchange it for a Hieremys annandalei turtle, which lives in U Minh or Nam Can indigo forest. If anyone has one, please trade with me.”
These are several of hundreds of messages on some online forums of Vietnamese Internet users about their love for turtles, methods to take care of turtles and where turtles are sold.
Pet shops on Le Hong Phong road, district 10, HCM City, Nguyen Trai-Ngo Quyen junction in district 5, or the area for ornamental fish at the Truong Dinh-Vo Thi Sau crossroad are very busy with turtle buyers of different ages.
“If he saw how pet lovers buy turtles these days, the Golden Turtle God in the sword legend would feel very happy. Dogs, cats, mice, salamanders are no longer favoured. The most fashionable pet is now the turtle,” said the owner of a pet shop on Le Hong Phong road.
Depending on specimen and size, each turtle is priced at VND10,000 to VND100,000 (US$0.6 to $6). A white-haired man named Khai, while waiting for the seller to wrap 20 turtles, said: “Looking at cute turtles at my friend’s house, I also wanted to buy some. It is very commonplace to rear ornamental fish now. Turtles are strange so people, especially children love them very much.”
Gentle + lucky + long-lived + strange = love
Apart from the strangeness, depending on age, job and social class each person has his/her own reason to rear turtles.
Binh, the owner of a pet shop on Truong Dinh road, HCM City, said: “Last week, a man came to my shop asking to buy a pet that doesn’t have hair, eats rice, is small, hygienic, doesn’t run far, is quiet, and doesn’t bite. I recommended a turtle and he immediately agreed.”
Phuong Vy, a 10th-grade pupil from Marie Curie High School, boasted that she had a couple of red-eared turtles that are very cute. “Whenever I feel tense, I just look at or play with them a while to get fresh,” she said.
Khai, the white-haired man who bought 20 turtles at once, said that some of his Chinese partners breed male turtles based on the belief that the turtle is the symbol of longevity. With a turtle in house, the house owner will be healthy and long-lived.
On an online forum, Binh, the owner of a garment enterprise in District 12, HCM City writes: “When I brought the turtle home. My wife protested fiercely. Luckily, a neighbouring physiognomist came and told us that the turtle is in the quartet of supernatural animals – dragon, unicorn, turtle and phoenix – and is symbol for steadiness. If it is taken care of carefully, it can bring good fortune for the family. My wife now loves it very much.”
Phuong, a salesman of a Korean truck company in Tan Binh district, has another reason to rear turtles: “Working hard the whole day, returning home to see quiet and slow turtles makes me cool again. It is a pleasure to see them raise their head asking for food at meal time.”
However, passionately deep in their habit, many pet breeders don’t know that they are contributing to harm the environment and bringing many rare species of turtles to extinction.
(Source: KH & DS)
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