After being saved, the baby turtles were sent to the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in the US

Jan 12, 2015 13:24 GMT  ·  By

Just days ago, the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in the US welcomed a total of eight baby turtles. The teeny tiny creatures, photos of which are available in the gallery below, were sent to this wildlife sanctuary after being rescued from traffickers.

That's right, it appears that, as adorable as these baby turtles are, a bunch of wildlife traffickers actually tried to sell them on the black market to folks hoping to keep them as pets or, way worse, turn them into medicine or eat their meat.

According to Zoo Borns, the turtles were rescued by officials with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Investigations revealed that they were meant for export to China where, as mentioned, they would have probably become somebody's lunch or new cough medicine.

Mind you, the US Fish and Wildlife Service didn't recover just these eight young turtles. On the contrary, word has it that, all in all, over 200 hatchlings belonging to several different species were saved from being sold by the wildlife traffickers on illegal markets currently operating in China.

Truth be told, it's species such as elephants, rhinos, tigers, whales and sharks that more often than not make headlines. Still, this does not change the fact that many turtle and tortoise species are in danger of going extinct too and very much need our help surviving in the long run.

These turtles were rescued from traffickers (5 Images)

Baby turtles rescued from traffickers
The reptiles were saved by officials with the US Fish and Wildlife ResearchThe turtles were meant for export to China
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