An old Bengali Muslim practice of venerating critically endangered species can be observed at the Bayazid Bistami Shrine (mazar) at Nasirabad in Chittagong, Bangladesh, more popularly known as the Turtle Shrine. By offering a safe habitat and breeding grounds for the huge enigmatic black soft-shell turtles called Bistami Kasim (Aspideretes nigricans), locally known as Mazaris, and the large number of Gozaris (‘gozar’ fish), as the fish that populate the pond are called (and on whose back Bistami is traditionally believed to have ridden to Bengal), the Sufi shrine functions as a crucial refuge for a significant segment of these riverine populations. However, the view that protecting ‘sacred animals’ at this Muslim ‘natural’ sacred site was an ancient practice is not generally accepted. In early 2000, the turtles repeatedly became the victims of Islamic terror, when so-called Islamists poured pesticide into the Bistami pond. Nearly all of the fish died, but a host of volunteers were fortunately able to rescue most of the turtles.