78 Rare Tortoises Vanished From A Breeding Center In Thailand

The disappearance of 78 rare tortoises from a breeding center in Thailand raised questions to where they went. These creatures worth a total of $85,000 (three million baht) were seized from illegal wildlife trade by the authorities.

TOP 10 MOST BEAUTIFUL CREATURES OF GOD IN THE WORLD.
Radiated Tortoise https://t.co/UQIirMDxFU pic.twitter.com/Z9Hk2fo63S

— Igor Murov (@IgorMurov) May 22, 2016

The tortoises were brought to Bang Phra Water Bird Breeding Station in eastern Thailand. Tortoise belongs to a family of Testudinidae. They are the shield from their predators with their shells. Among the 78 tortoises, six of them were ploughshares and the rest were radiated. These tortoises are prized for their beauty. The traders sell them as pets in the black market. On the other hand, there is an international treaty banning this trade.

Ploughshares, a type of tortoise, are going to need to show up in court to defend their own extinction https://t.co/EtW7rj4gdy — Matthew Spaniol (@MattEd1121) June 26, 2013

Four orgs joined forces to hold a “Tattoo the Tortoise” event to build support to fight trafficking of Ploughshares. https://t.co/8ZLAwezetF — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) December 22, 2013

Tortoise such as ploughshare is a rare species. There are only about 500 of them in the forest of northeastern Madagascar. Likewise, the radiated tortoise is critically endangered because of the habitat loss and pet and meat trades.

On the other hand, they disappeared on May 23, 2016. Thailand's Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Concentration has sent off investigation into the theft. The head of the facility was also removed and replaced by the senior forest official, according to National Geographic.

Thanyn Netithammakum, director general of the agency said that these tortoises could not just disappear without anyone knowing. He further said that the public needs to know what happened.