Pranab Malakar, an Indian wildlife conservationist, who dedicated his life to turtle conservation, is commonly known as the Turtle Man of India.
A resident of Assam’s Hajo town looks after the Hayagriva Madhava Temple and its adjacent pond which is the home to several turtle species, including the black softshell turtle, declared “extinct in the wild” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2002.
In 2007, Pranab Malakar was assigned the duty of maintaining the temple along with the pond adjacent to it.
However, in 2008, while maintaining the pond, it came to his notice that the turtles were facing a lot of difficulties while laying the eggs because of the concrete embankment that was built around the pond.
On observing, he found out that the turtles were facing hindrances in moving around due to the cemented embankment.
The turtles faced a lot of inconvenience because of this, which ultimately led to the death of many turtles in the pond.
He thought of reaching out to the higher authorities in order to provide a healthy environment for the turtles. It was then that he approached a society at Gauhati University that helped him understand the characteristics of the turtles present in the pond.
Then onwards he took matters into his hands and started to take care of the turtles, observing their movements and behaviour.
He started collecting the turtle eggs and taking care of the hatchlings. Once they grew of age, he handed them over to the forest officials, who released them in the wild.
Previously, he took care of about a hundred hatchlings and even at present he is taking care of about these many hatchlings.
Till now he has been able to conserve the turtles all by himself but it is getting very difficult for him to carry forward without some sort of support from people.
Conserving the turtles has become of utmost importance as the number of them has drastically gone down in Assam. Further, in 2002, the black softshell turtle was declared “extinct in the wild” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
But the species was found in this pond which is adjacent to the Hayagriva Madhava temple. He has been successful in conserving the hatchlings of this species and has also released them in the wild.
Along with this black softshell species, he has also been able to conserve some of the lesser-known species. Therefore, he has urged the Assam State Zoo authorities as well as the government to kindly take certain steps in order to conserve these turtles and protect them.