Turtles, snakes, fishes found dead at Timbi lake

Vadodara: Wildlife conservationists are concerned after several aquatic animals were found dead on the bank of Timbi lake on the outskirts of Vadodara on Sunday morning.
A group of students from the Department of Zoology of M S University noticed dead turtles, snakes and fishes on the bank of lake when they had gone to the wetland on Waghodiya Road.
“We found six bodies of turtles, four snakes and one fish on the bank of the lake,” said Vikrant Vyas, a second-year student, who along with other students Ravin Kadu and Sujit Gohil noticed the dead aquatic animals.
“We have been visiting the lake for bird watching for the past last one-and-a-half year, but have never seen so many aquatic animals die like this,” he said.
Their teacher Dr Ranjitsinh Devkar, who was alerted by the students, too said the death of the aquatic animals at Timbi lake is unusual.
“They were flapshell turtles (lissymus punctate) which fall in schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act while the snake specie was checkered keelback, a non-poisonous one,” Devkar told TOI.
“This is serious incident. I have been observing Timbi lake for 35 years now and have never come across death of so many aquatic animals,” he said.
“Both turtles and snakes are reptiles and I assumed that drowning after getting entangled in fishing net could be the obvious cause of their death. Given that it is not a protected wetland, fishing activities do happen in the area,” he said.
Devkar, however, said that recovery of dead fishes does remain a cause of concern. “I just hope that it is not due to pollution. Most water bodies in urban areas including our rivers are already polluted and we cannot rule out this factor in this case as well. Fishes begin to suffocate and die when dissolved oxygen level goes down,” he said.
“Turtles are very sturdy. They are living even in Vishwamitri river,” he said, adding that students have alerted forest department officials regarding the dead animals at the wetland. The department usually conducted survey and carries out post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death.