PERTH: A mysterious disease is threatening the survival of a New South Wales turtle species, wiping out most of its population within two months and baffling scientists who say they have never seen anything like it.
The Bellinger River snapping turtle had been thriving in a near-pristine stretch of waterway on the state’s mid-north coast, but has suddenly become endangered.
In a race against time, authorities have established the state’s first wildlife biosecurity team to prevent the disease from spreading to nearby waterways.
Seventeen of the turtles are being cared for in special tanks at a quarantine facility at the University of Western Sydney (UWS).
They could be among the last of their kind left on Earth.
