In the 1980s India released 25,000 flesh-eating soft-shelled turtles into the Ganges to consume partially cremated corpses and reduce necrotic pollution. Raised in Sarnath, the turtles were fed decaying flesh, but poaching, industrial pollution, and lack of protection undermined the program. Recent initiatives like Namami Gange now release native turtles through the Wildlife Institute of India.
