The Obvious Answer: Rename Turtle Pond

Because maybe you’re wondering how a turtle can be an invasive species in “Turtle Pond”:

In Chinatown, turtles are the center of a tug of war whose ramifications are being felt at the Central Park Turtle Pond.

One side makes turtles into soups that are ladled into the bowls of the elderly, the pregnant, and the recently born in the hopes of imparting longevity.

The other group, mostly Buddhists, is buying up turtles from food markets and “setting them free” into the East River.

Neither side appears to know that the quiet war of ideas over reptiles is leading, in part, to a proliferation of a non-native species in the Turtle Pond.

. . .

A group of Chinese Buddhists — no one knows how many — take their belief to the extreme on holidays and special occasions, casting turtles into the East River to set them free. The practice is called fangsheng, or “release of life,” and dates back to the 6th century. Setting turtles or other animals free increases a Buddhist’s merit, which is believed to translate into a better rebirth.

The species of turtle most commonly found in Chinatown — and consequently the East River and the Turtle Pond — is the red-eared slider, which originates from the tributaries leading into the Mississippi River. It cannot survive in the brackish waters around Manhattan, according to herpetologists.

. . .

A reporter observed the “fangsheng” practice on August 1 — the 19th day of the sixth month in the lunar calendar. On that day hundreds of years ago, Princess Miaoshan, the human manifestation of the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin, left home to begin practicing religion, according to Buddhist texts.

The women painted red symbols on the backs of the turtles, including the “svasti,” the symbol adopted by the Nazi party. They said a prayer over the turtles and then pushed them over the edge into the water five feet below. The women declined to be interviewed.