McElwee quoted on death of Vietnam's sacred turtle
A giant turtle, a mythic symbol of Vietnamese independence and longevity that had quietly paddled around Hanoi’s central lake for decades — some say centuries — is dead, official state news media has reported.
The turtle, known as Cu Rua, or Great-Grandfather Turtle, weighed an estimated 360 pounds and was believed to have died of natural causes. Its precise age was unknown.
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Of the four animals that many Vietnamese consider sacred, including the dragon, phoenix and unicorn, the turtle is the only one that exists in real life, said Pamela McElwee, a Vietnam expert and a professor of human ecology at Rutgers University. As a result, she added, Hanoi’s giant turtle was seen as an important link between “the here and now, the earthly world and the spiritual world.”