TSA Celebrates World Wetlands Day in the Best Way

On the auspicious occasion of World Wetlands Day, February 2, 2022, TSA India Program, Assam Forest Department, and Nagshankar temple committee released 59 headstarted Black Softshell Turtles (Nilssonia nigricans) into a shallow lagoon of Chandubi Lake.

Chandubi Lake itself is a relatively new wetland, having formed just over 120 years ago, on June 12, 1897, when tectonic movement of the Earth’s crust instigated an earthquake causing the forest at the foot of the Garo hills to collapse inward and fill with water. The Black Softshell Turtle is a Critically Endangered species that was, until recently, considered Extinct in the Wild. The rare turtle once lived in Chandubi Lake—as part of the “Return to the Wild” program of TSA and our partners, with our help, it has returned there.