There is some bad news for people working in the field of turtle conservation, as the Mangrove Cell of Maharashtra Forest department has not received signals/locations of the female turtle Laxmi that was tagged on the west coast of the state last month.

Talking to mid-day Virendra Tiwari, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF) and head of Mangrove Cell said, “Since March 2, 2022, no signals/locations have been received from the female turtle Laxmi which was tagged at Guhagar on February 16, 2022. It is suspected that this may be due to the malfunctioning of the transmitter or the turtle may have died.” The tagging of five turtles was successfully done and they are being monitored by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) along with the Mangrove Foundation team and local forest staff.