"Disease-carrying" terrapins removed from London park

Terrapins are being removed from a park in London after officials said the "voracious" creatures carry diseases harmful to humans and domestic animals.

Hackney Council and the Environment Agency are using safe floating traps to remove the terrapins from Clissold Park in Stoke Newington.

A council spokesman told the Evening Standard that the said the predators "diseases including Salmonella which is transmissible to humans and domestic animals such as dogs."

The terrapins will be taken to an animal rescue centre before being rehomed.

London24 reports that the animals were most likely dumped by residents who no longer wished to keep them as pets.

But Hackney Council warned people that dumping the terrapins in illegal. A spokesperson said: "Terrapins are not native to the UK. They originate from North and South America. It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release any non-native species into the wild in the UK.

"We ask members of the public considering releasing any unwanted pets into the park that they instead return them to a pet shop or take them to a rescue centre for re-homing."

Last year, parents in the Lake District were warned after terrapins capable of "biting the fingers off" of young children were dumped in a river.

Terry Bowes, director of Wetheriggs Zoo and Animal Sanctuary Centre in Cumbria, told the Daily Mail: "The problem is both the number being dumped, as well as the way they devastate the wildlife. They are carnivores. They will eat anything that moves.

"If you have kids paddling in a river the turtles could easily snap off a toe or a finger. They can become quite aggressive when they have grown."

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