Finally, we go to Vietnam, where an extremely rare giant turtle has been captured. Scientists believe the turtle to be more than 100 years old and a member of the most endangered freshwater turtle species in the world.
Experts in Hanoi, Vietnam captured a legendary giant turtle for medical treatment on Sunday. It was a milestone in a saga that has captured national attention.
In Hoan Kiem Lake, which is located in the heart of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, several dozen people, including Special Forces soldiers, swam and used boats to pull three rings of nets around the rare beast.
The turtle weighs about 440 pounds and its massive shell stretches six feet long and four feet wide.
Thousands of people crowded around the edge of the lake to witness the never-before-seen event.
The turtle got past two of the nets, but a swimmer believed to Special Forces grabbed the shell and rode the animal a short while to prevent it from getting past the third net. It was then put into a pen on an island in the middle of the lake that has been dubbed its hospital and sanitarium.
[Luu Tien Xuan, Hanoi Resident]:
"It would be a sad thing if the lake didn't have the turtle in it anymore. For generations, when people visit the lake, they come for the turtle. Losing the turtle would feel like losing something very valuable of our own."
[Bui Thi Lien, Hanoi Resident]:
"He is the Golden Turtle God, not an ordinary turtle. He has been around for hundreds of years. An old man told me that the turtle is 500-years-old, that's why we refer him as 'the great-grandfather turtle.'"
In the past, more than one turtle lived in the lake but many were killed by fishermen during the 1960s. One of them was preserved and put inside a temple on Hoan Kiem Lake.
The wily reptile slipped through a hole in a net on March 8 when divers and workers waded into the algae-green waters of the lake in a first attempt to catch it.
In recent months the turtle has surfaced almost twice as frequently as in previous years.
Scientists have said they believe the turtle caught on Sunday may be more than 100-years-old and probably a member of the most endangered freshwater turtle species in the world.
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