Firemen rescue 80kg softshell turtle

IPOH: An 80kg softshell turtle was found trapped in a drain in Kampung Sungai Terap in Kampung Gajah here today.
Residents of the sleepy village were in disbelief when they discovered the massive reptile sandwiched in the drain which it had fallen into and was unable to move.
Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia posted on Facebook that it was a softshell turtle rather than a tortoise as it was earlier identified.
A spokesman from the Batu Gajah fire station said that they had received the call from members of the public who were in the area at the time.
"We received the call at about 10am," he said.
It took a whole 30 minutes and several firemen to get the tortoise out of the drain unharmed.
"It was heavy and very big, we had to also take precautions to get it out of the drain without hurting it.
"It was a difficult task as the reptile was very big and heavy," he said.
Once it was out of the drain, the firemen handed over the creature to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.