Thousands of Thais traditionally release turtles each year to make merit, an important religious activity in Thailand, in the belief the act promotes longevity and good fortune.

A newly formed club of turtle lovers has launched a campaign to stop people from setting the animals free in polluted or overcrowded canals and temple ditches, according to the Nation newspaper.

The environment in canals and ditches around temples, including Bangkok's Wat Bowonniwet Vihara where the practice is popular, is not suitable for the turtles, said club member and telecoms manager Kachorn Chearavanont, who teamed up with a veterinarian to alert Thais to the reptiles' plight.

"It is easy to imagine that hundreds of turtles are now living there in overcrowded unsuitable conditions," Kachorn was quoted as saying.

The club, Rux-Tao, launched its campaign at the weekend, releasing into a pond in central Thailand 112 soft-shelled turtles which were among 250 recently rescued from dirty conditions at the wat.

Releasing such reptiles into unsuitable conditions is not performing a good deed but earns instead a spiritual "demerit", the veterinarian Nantrika Chansue was quoted as saying.

TERRA.WIRE