surat medical practitioner by profession and an animal lover by heart dr shirish jani name changed is also a foster parent of not one or two but more than 25 turtles it might sound strange but he has a foster home for this endangered species of marine reptiles there are three such foster homes for turtles in and around the city at present the case of turtles is a strange one as people are eager to procure them but get tired of them after a while and want to get rid of them according to the figures available 10 to 12 calls of abandoned turtles and three to four of help are received by the different ngos every month we bring these creatures and try to rehabilitate them in their natural habitat otherwise we take them to foster homes where they are adopted said darshan desai of prayas an ngo working for environment and animal protection the most frightening aspect is the high death rate of this reptile while it is in transit people hide and bring the turtles all the way from singapore and other island countries but only 20 per cent survive the journey many people buy these reptiles for childrens entertainment or vastushastra but as the turtles grow up they want to get rid of them by either abandoning them or handing them over to ngos who bring them to me said dr jani he said that at times these turtles are sick and need to be fed a special diet comprising marine vegetation like water fungus along with water insects desai told toi that recently a rare species of this creature named red eared slider was found in a crushed condition on road a car had wheeled over it breaking its shield it was treated and has recovered the problem is people dont know how to treat this animal there is no awareness our people are doing this work along with saving this endangered species he said although there is a ban on keeping turtles as pets under the indian wildlife act but people procure them are unable to address their needs in the last three years about 150 turtles were saved and rehabilitated while 70 were rescued and adopted by prayas