Pond turtles are starving to death in California

Spoilt habitat: Western pond turtles are starving in a once bucolic lake that has become an alkaline sump after three years of drought in California. - Photos by MCT

In the wake of the prolonged drought, a lake that is a crucial turtle habitat becomes a death trap.

Biologists strode along the cracked, dry mud surrounding the evaporating Elizabeth Lake in north Los Angeles County lake last month, pausing periodically to pick up an emaciated turtle and wash alkaline dust off its head and carapace.