# Rescue of Rare Giant Turtle Attempted in Hanoi

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rescue-of-rare-giant-turtle-attempted-in-hanoi/574135>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 10, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rescue-of-rare-giant-turtle-attempted-in-hanoi/574135 "2011-03-10T04:47:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rescue-of-rare-giant-turtle-attempted-in-hanoi/574135/1 "2011-03-10T04:47:21Z")

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Stories [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12674720) (along with a short video) and [here](http://in.reuters.com/article/2007/11/07/us-vietnam-turtle-idINHAN29845120071107). But it’s not looking good for the poor guy. One of only four of the species known to be left in the world – one other is in another Vietnamese lake, while the other two are in zoos in China.

The lake is in Hanoi’s Old Town, a fascinating area. We stayed near the lake last year and strolled around it quite a bit but didn’t see any turtles. There is a temple on a small island near one end that has a footbridge to it – not the island in the photos or video; a different small island but larger than the one shown. At the temple is the preserved carcass of a giant turtle that died there in 1968, weighing 250 kilograms and measuring 2.1 meters in length.