At this juncture, the interventions of molecular approaches are worthwhile to identify the species (Alacs et al. However, investigation of pet-kept turtles and their genetic identity was never being assessed in this region to estimate illegitimate threats on this threatened taxa.īesides, the practice with classical taxonomy sometimes fails to identify the pet-kept turtle species due to the absence of important phenotypic characters. Several baseline studies have been fulfilled to know the morphology, genetic information, and distribution pattern of wild living Geoemydid turtles in northeast India (Das 2001 Praschag et al. Thus, the overexploitation of turtles has been causing massive declination of the wild population in this region (Kundu et al. The peoples in this region consume turtle meat for therapeutic practices, use burning ash of the turtle shell as traditional medicine, keep the dry shell as holy things and live specimens as pets. Northeast India is also known as a turtle trading hub and dozens of turtles are being hunted by the local peoples in every year. The genera Batagur and Hardella are reported to be confined to the river, while Pangshura, Melanochelys, Geoclemys, Cuora, Cyclemys, and Morenia are found in small hill streams or stagnant water bodies (Praschag et al. Most of them are dwellers surrounding freshwater ecosystems, and a few are adapting to estuarine or terrestrial habitats (Ernst et al. They mostly inhabit in the wild vegetation and have the burrowing nature of living under the leaf litters with exception of safe exposure to sunlight for basking. Among them, 13 species within eight genera are reportedly distributed throughout northeast India (Das 2001 Buhlmann et al. The family Geoemydidae comprises of 71 species within 19 genera and two subfamilies worldwide (Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2017). Since the sixteenth century, the animals have been associated with the human for several mythological beliefs and recreational purposes (Klemens 2000 Fordham et al. Geoemydid turtles are one of the most ornamental and highly threatened Chelonian groups in the world (van Dijk et al. The present study contributes DNA barcode sequences of Geoemydid turtles in the global database and also affirms the on-going illegal pet trade of highly threatened species in northeast India. The NJ, ML and Bayesian phylogeny also resulted monophyletic clustering and discriminated all the studied species. The overall mean genetic distance of the studied Geoemydid turtles dataset is 15.3% and ranges from 3.4% to 22.6% between the species. The 36 generated sequences are readily delineated into 12 Geoemydid species using molecular data. We tested the effectiveness of DNA barcoding tools for identifying the pet-kept Geoemydid turtle in northeast India. The DNA barcoding technique has evidenced as a supportive tool for accurate species identification in systematics research and discerned the nameless taxa in forensic sciences. Classical taxonomy often fails to identify the pet-kept turtle specimens due to amorphous form, unusual shell colouration owing to poor storage in captivity or intensely tinted for high demanding value. Should your dog need emergency medical attention, the SPCA or Countryside will care for your animal and charge you any additional veterinary fees.Geoemydid turtles are one of the most imperilled fauna on the planet, with nearly half of them are threatened with extinction due to bushmeat crisis, traditional medicine, and the illegal pet trade.
If your dog is picked up by the SPCA or Police Department, it will be taken to Countryside Veterinary. If you have an after hours emergency, please call (518) 761-3840 or (518) 798-3500 and someone will respond as soon as possible. Failure to claim your animal may result in misdemeanor charges of abandonment of the animal punishable by imprisonment up to one year and / or fines. The law states that it is the dog owner's responsibility to claim his / her dog in a timely manner from the shelter. Countryside Veterinary located at 270 Queensbury Avenue, provides shelter services for the City. You may contact them at (518) 798 -3500 to see if your dog has been picked up by the animal control officer.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Upstate New York, Inc., located at 454 Queensbury Avenue, provides animal control services.
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