Chinese animal lovers shell out to help water rescue team after it shows mercy to giant turtle
Patrolman decided to free potentially valuable catch after accidentally lifting it from Yellow River
A water rescue officer's decision to release a surprising (and valuable) catch has prompted donations to his team from those impressed with his altruism.
Wang Xijun, of the Yellow River search and rescue team, accidentally lifted a valuable 16kg softshell turtle from the water in Henan province, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported on Wednesday.
Softshell turtles normally weigh up to 12kg, so to find a turtle of this size in the wild is exceptionally rare.
Several people contacted Wang offering to buy the turtle for a high price when they heard the news, but he decided to free it nonetheless.
The report did not explain how he had managed to catch the turtle, but it quoted him as saying: “In all my years of working in the Yellow River, I’ve never caught a softshell turtle this big.