World Turtle Day today: Sarnath breeding centre boosting conservation efforts
The Sarnath Turtle Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre, which was renovated and redeveloped in 2017, has conserved 3,298 turtles from 2017 to 2025 and released them into the Ganga to keep the ecosystem of the river healthy in Varanasi.
The Sarnath Turtle Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre, an important centre of aquatic biodiversity, has emerged as an example of success of conservation in the Ganga River Basin. The inclusion of the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre in Namami Gange since 2017 has also reduced smuggling of turtles.
Chief forest conservator, Varanasi Division, Dr Ravi Kumar Singh, said that in the last eight years, 3,231 eggs were hatched at the Turtle Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre and were released in different rivers, including Ganga.
He explained that the Centre was established in 1978 under the Ganga Action Plan and later the turtle sanctuary was declared in Varanasi in 1989. In the early 2000s, the centre faced several operational and infrastructure problems. But the change came in 2017 when the government included it in Component IV-Rescue and Rehabilitation of the Namami Gange programme, a joint effort of the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The centre is currently playing a vital role in the conservation, rehabilitation and release of thousands of freshwater turtles.
At the centre, since 2017, the turtle ponds were redesigned, advanced bio-filtration and aeration systems were installed. Natural materials like logs, aquatic vegetation, haul-out mats and sunbathing platforms were installed. Separate ponds were created for juvenile turtles, while larger turtles (up to 50 kg) were kept in newly renovated ponds, he added.
Keeping in mind the turtle's preferred diet, the diet now includes live fish for carnivore turtles, plant material for herbivore turtles and a mixed diet for omnivores. Turtles are now released into the Ganga only after rigorous medical and behavioural evaluation, to ensure long-term survival and ecosystem integration. As a result, the Sarnath Turtle Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre is becoming a national model for turtle conservation and a centre that is playing a role in keeping the ecosystem of rivers healthy.
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