Endangered 'African Thorns Turtles' Abandoned in Rural Villages

[Anchor]
A big turtle was rescued from a rural village in Gangwon Province.

Africa was an international endangered land turtle.

It is presumed that someone threw it away when it was too much to handle while raising it.

Reporter Hong Sung-wook covered it.

[Reporter]
The length of the back pack alone is more than 50cm.

It is an African thorn turtle that is distinctly different in size and appearance from domestic turtles.

Residents found and reported it, and the Endangered Wildlife Conservation Association rescued it.

It is an African thorn turtle found in a rural village in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. It is estimated that the owner who grew up abandoned it as it grew in size.

The African thorn turtle is a second-class endangered species set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

When you break from the egg, it is the size of a fist, but when you grow up, it is nearly 1m tall and weighs 100kg.

Animals that are only seen in zoos have been abandoned in rural villages.

[Lee Ok-nyeo / Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do: You should go somewhere and sleep well. Oh, that's too bad..]

There are increasing cases of raising rare foreign creatures as pets and abandoning them.

In the past two years, more than 200 foreign animals have been reported to the Organic Animal Protection Center alone, and the number is estimated to be higher if reptiles such as turtles are added.

If you are not an animal originally living on the Korean Peninsula, there is a high concern about ecosystem disturbance if it is abandoned in the wild.

In 2015, tropical fish species such as piranhas, which were abandoned by someone while raising them, were found in a reservoir in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do, and all 3,000-ton reservoir water was drained and a fight was carried out.

Since the newly rescued thorn turtle is difficult to survive alone in its natural state and is an international endangered species, a public notice must be issued to find a new home.

It is unclear whether any owner or animal organization will appear to raise a grown turtle.

[Nam Ki-beom / Chairman of Hongcheon-gun Branch of the National Federation for Conservation of Nature: Heartless people who throw that away on the street like that, it's really heartbreaking]

Under the current law, you can be fined up to 20 million won if you release endangered wild animals, but there is no punishment standard for abandonment of foreign wild animals.

I'm YTN's Hong Sung Wook.