Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
U.S.A.
September 21, 2015
Experts concerned by sighting of invasive turtle
TURTLE TROUBLE. A Chinese soft-shelled
marsh turtle is seen in Boston. Two of the odd-looking
Chinese soft-shelled marsh turtles typically raised for
food in Asia have been spotted south of Boston, and
there’s concern they could eventually threaten local
ecosystems if they become established in New Eng-
land. (Charlie Innis/New England Aquarium via AP)
By Sylvia Lee Wingfield
The Associated Press
B
OSTON — Two odd-looking
Chinese soft-shelled marsh turtles
typically raised for food in Asia
have been seen south of Boston, and
there’s concern they could eventually
threaten local ecosystems if they become
established in New England.
New England Aquarium experts say it
was possible someone decided to release
the animals after buying them for cooking.
They urge people not to release non-native
animals into the wild, and to report any
sightings of the soft-shelled turtle.
People on Wollaston Beach in Quincy
saw a turtle digging in the sand, and the
aquarium’s marine animal-rescue team
picked it up for identification. A second
sighting was reported later.
“The concern is that if it can establish a
population, it actually can survive our
winter,” said Nigella Hillgarth, the New
England Aquarium’s president and CEO
and a zoologist. “It could cause major
changes in the ecosystem. None of the
animals in that ecosystem are adapted to a
predator of that size. It eats large amounts
of small fish, mussels, clams, and insects.”
The turtles live in brackish marshes and
ponds in eastern Asia. Hillgarth said they
are considered endangered in the wild in
China, but more than 300 million are
raised annually on farms. The animals
have become invasive in the Philippines,
and have established themselves in
Hawai’i, California, and Virginia. They
have been seen in New York and Mary-
land.
Hillgarth says the “extraordinary-
looking,” greenish-brown turtle has a
leathery shell and is between seven and 15
inches long.
“The thing that’s remarkable,” she said,
“it has a really long snout, and can extend
its neck. It’s almost like a little periscope in
the water that allows it to breathe. It has
this pointy face, and you immediately
know it’s something very different.”
Professor says
he’s grateful feds
dropped case
PHILADELPHIA (AP)
— A Temple University
professor who had been
accused of scheming to
provide secret U.S. Tech-
nology to China says he’s
grateful
and
relieved
prosecutors dropped the
case against him, and is
thankful to friends and
colleagues who supported
him.
Xi Xiaoxing (shee show-
shing) released a state-
ment calling the case a
nightmare in which he
“suffered
professionally,
mentally, physically, and
financially.”
The U.S. attorney’s office
in Philadelphia recently
filed a motion to dismiss
four counts of wire fraud
against Xi.
The government says
only that the motion is
based on “additional infor-
mation” it received since
the charges against the
57-year-old professor were
filed in May.
Xi was chairman of the
university’s physics de-
partment until his arrest.
He remains a faculty
member.
He
is
a
naturalized U.S. citizen
born in China.