Video: The apparently healthy terrapin was spotted near Awsworth
A terrapin has been caught on camera living in a Nottinghamshire canal after being released into the wild by its owner.
The animal is thought to be one of a group which has survived in a section of the Nottingham Canal despite not being native to British waters.
It was filmed by Notts TV basking in the sunshine by the water, close to Awsworth.
Conservationists say the sighting is one of a number across Britain which prove terrapins are able to live the UK’s climate if they escape or are released by their owners.
Some are thought to have survived for many years, but there is no evidence they are able to breed in the wild as British weather is thought to be too cold for their eggs.
The sighting has prompted experts at the Canal and River Trust to remind pet owners to never release animals into the wild as they can threaten native species.
Imogen Wilde, an ecologist for the trust in the East Midlands said: “There was huge craze for them in the 1980s and 1990s thanks to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
“They are quite small when they are young but grow relatively quickly and can reach the size of a dinner plate, which is not what some people are expecting and then some will get rid of them.
“There’s nothing in our ecology that preys on them so they have a free reign on our wildlife and can upset the balance – they tend to eat dragonfly eggs, for example.”
Google map: The terrapin was seen on the Nottingham Canal stretch west of Awsworth
She added their exact numbers in the wild are not known but the reptiles have also been seen in the Erewash Canal.
There have been numerous other sightings across Britain since the 1990s, with more than 100 removed from ponds on Hampstead Heath in London in 2008.
The Nottingham Canal closed in the 1930s but sections of it are maintained as nature reserves and fishing spots, including the stretch near Awsworth.
