On Saturday, 240 Black Softshell Turtle (Nilssonia nigricans) hatchlings — locally known as Bormuria Kaso — were released into a protected waterbody under the Biswanath Wildlife Division in Assam.

The release was jointly organised by the Wildlife Survival Alliance Foundation India (WSAFI) and the Biswanath Wildlife Division, in collaboration with Kaziranga Tiger Reserve and the Assam Forest Department, as part of the ongoing project 'Conservation and Recovery of Black Softshell Turtle in Assam'.

The initiative has been underway for nearly a decade, and WSAFI says it has released more than 1,000 hatchlings into the wild since 2021. Attendees included Naduar MLA Padma Hazarika, DFO Rituu Paban Borah and Nagshankar Temple Committee Secretary Rajib Barua.

What makes this a genuine conservation reversal is the species' trajectory. The Black Softshell Turtle was declared 'Extinct in the Wild' in the early 2000s after constant hunting for meat pushed it to the brink across Assam and parts of neighbouring Bangladesh.

Today, according to WSAFI, the species has a stable population in the Brahmaputra-Kaziranga landscape — though it remains classified as 'Critically Endangered'.

The recovery effort began, unusually, with help from temples and priests: the historic Nagshankar Temple has played a key role in the programme, turning its pond into a nesting stronghold for a turtle once written off in the wild.

Each year, eggs are collected during the March–April nesting season from the Nagshankar Temple pond premises and transported for artificial incubation at Biswanath Ghat under controlled conditions. This minimises egg losses to predators, particularly mongooses, and improves hatching success.

Hatchlings emerge in July and August and are then moved to a grow-out facility, where they are reared for around three months and fed fresh small fish to build body weight and improve their odds of survival after release into their natural habitat.

The programme deliberately ties biodiversity conservation to community economics.

Guests at the release were felicitated with handwoven gamosas featuring turtle motifs, crafted by members of Kaso Sakhi, a local women's alternative livelihood group supported by WSAFI to promote sustainable income and reduce dependence on river-based livelihoods.

The turtle itself matters to the water too: often called 'water vultures' or 'vultures of the water', softshell turtles act as scavengers that remove organic waste and help keep waterbodies clean.

With hatchlings continuing to be raised and released, the initiative offers renewed hope for long-term recovery in the Brahmaputra basin.