Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black Lake terrapins to be moved

After the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (left) many bought terrapins (right) as a pet

A project has begun to relocate terrapins from a lake, likely abandoned as pets after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "craze".

The non-native animals are currently at Black Park lake in Wexham, Buckinghamshire.

Buckinghamshire Council said once caught they will move to the National Turtle Sanctuary in Lincolnshire.

Andy Ferguson, from the sanctuary, said if the terrapins remain at the lake they could "suffer awful consequences".

The herpetologist said: "Black Park lake is a beautiful location and many people may think the terrapins would be happy here but unfortunately that is not the case."

The terrapins will be moved to a custom-built home at the National Turtle Sanctuary

He added the reptiles needed "proper acclimatisation and monitoring within their environments".

According to the National Turtle Sanctuary terrapins became popular pets in the 1990s due to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

Buckinghamshire Council said: "These non-native animals were released [at the lake] likely following the mutant ninja turtle craze, where many people kept them as pets."

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began as a comic book before spawning multiple cartoon series, movies and toys

Clive Harriss, the councillor responsible for culture and leisure, at the authority said: "Our country parks provide a natural home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife.

"Sadly terrapins are not one of those natural species."

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The country parks team at Black Park has placed a number of humane traps in the lake to capture the terrapins. It is not yet known how many there are.

Laura Smart is part of the council's country parks team which have put out the humane traps for the terrapins

They will then be placed in a temporary pond in the park before transportation to National Turtle Sanctuary where they will take up permanent residence in a new custom-built home.

The relocation is part of a project to tackle erosion of the Black Lake shore, which includes building out the banks and planting native plant species to provide stabilisation.