Red-Eared Slider Turtle: Not an endangered native species, but is the possession illegal in terms of invasive species?

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User_922cce57
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May 2, 2026 at 10:45 am

My friend has two red-eared sliders, bought from a local pet shop. Recently, he has been worried about their legality. At first, we were confident that they were legal, since we thought only the endangered native species were banned.

However, recently, we have been encountering some articles about their ban due to being an invasive species that hurts the local fauna.

But those articles are not very clear;

i. some are from North America,

ii. some Indian ones mention some 2012 MoEFCC notification and state that they are invasive and thus banned and may result in 5 years in prison and/or 1L fine,

iii. but some Indian ones also refer to the previous native species ban, and say that non-native turtles are legal.

Also, there is too much confusion over whether only import/trade/breeding is banned, or possession is also banned.

What might be the best response here? He doesn’t want to release/abandon the turtles since he is very attached, and I also think this is better ethically, since being in his house is better than them invading some local lake.

But should he be worrying about the department confiscating his turtles, or about landing in prison or paying the fine? Especially during travelling (not air/naval travelling), if he is travelling to my city (in the same state)? Are there any safeguards he can employ? Also, the local pet shop, from where he got those turtles, is in the middle of his city, and they were not hiding the turtles, so does that throw any light on their legality?

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