Vic: Capture averts environmental disaster
23 Dec 2008 11:52 AM
An illegal immigrant who threatened to cause an environmental disaster in Victoria has been apprehended after five years on the run.
Having eluded authorities since being smuggled into Australia .. the Red-eared Slider Turtle's been captured by a Melbourne housewife and will now be put to death.
The state's Department of Sustainability and Environment says the fully-grown adult is the largest ever seen in Victoria and has foiled all previous attempts at capture.
The DSE says it's set various traps and brought in an expert from Queensland two years ago in failed bids to take it into custody.
The turtle was captured after the woman saw it crossing the road near Blackburn Lake in Melbourne's east at the weekend.
Department senior investigator KEITH LARNER says the turtle posed a severe threat to Australian native animals .. and had already become a severe problem in Queensland.
He says they're a menace because they breed prolifically and prey aggressively on native frogs and fish.
