Please Stop Posing On Leatherback Turtles

[LadyDeath]

Turtle-watching season started in March and every year there are issues with people either driving onto nesting sites or sitting, standing or disturbing turtles with bright lights, which stops their nesting and causes them to head back into the ocean.

Leatherback turtles weigh an average of 500 kilograms or 1100 pounds and it is estimated that only one in a thousand hatchlings actually survive to maturity.
Standing on a Leatherback turtle?s back can damage their internal organs and cause internal bleeding.
Leatherback, Green turtles, Olive Ridleys, Loggerhead and Hawksbill turtles have all been designated Environmentally Sensitive Species (ESS) by the EMA.
The men and women caught sitting on the back of a leatherback turtle at a beach along the northern coast can be charged with interfering with an endangered species.

PLEASE STOP THIS HORRIBLE ACT! A PREGNANT TURTLE CAME TO LAY HER EGGS AND PEOPLE STANDING ON THE LABOURING TURTLE!

It Is Illegal To:

1. Take, remove, harm, injure, hunt, sell or kill any of these species, or trade in any specimen of the living animal and its parts, eggs and products
2. Deliberately or recklessly capture or endanger these species through the setting of nets and other fishing activities
3. Deliberately or recklessly capture any of these species in commercial shrimp trawler nets
4. Use any device or substance that may harm, stun or impact negatively on these species which would impair the sight, hearing, ability to swim or move of the ESS or its ability to detect prey and predators or affect its habitat or nesting ground
5. Sell, consume, own or store these species
6. Litter or pollute the environment or deposit any substances that can damage these species
7. To disturb these species at any time
8. Remove or export these species except for scientific research approved by the designated management authority;
9. Disturb, destroy or alter the habitat that upsets the integrity of the beach, habitat or surrounding ecosystems or causes undue disturbance to the plant or animal community upon which the the ESS depends at any phase of its life cycle
10. Any other activity which, based on technical or scientific evidence, is determined to cause or is likely to cause harm to the ESS.

Please report any illegal activity regarding these species to the EMA on 628-8042 or email ema@ema.co.tt.

Credits To TTonline.

 

[nirtime]

Really find this to disgusting to say the least... It does cause harm to the turtles as so wonderfully detailed in the OP.

 

[Shadowhunter]

It's sickening to see that people are still doing this nonsense and for them to think it's so acceptable that they would unabashedly post it online. I'm glad the information from this post, including the relevant contact information, is available. Hopefully more of this cruelty can be prevented with this knowledge.

 

[LadyDeath]

The thing is people know the turtle came to lay eggs. She is in labour !
I wish it had a law where, a heavy object equivalent to the weight of a turtle can be rested on their backs as well .

 

[grimreaper009]

lol humans have no respect to anything they think they own the land and everything in it even of those animals were here long before us

 

[nirtime]

I would like to see how these people feel if someone would sit on them while they lay flat somewhere. They would not like the feeling at all and some of them might even want to die from the weight lmao

 

[Shadowhunter]

If this were reciprocated, no doubt humans would insist on killing the turtles to protect themselves. The sad thing is, many people that claim to go turtle watching to help these animals, bring people along or lead groups to witness the turtle activities and do nothing when they see people acting inappropriately. Granted, one person against an opposite minded group of offending people would not be a wise stand-off, but there should be a way to prevent these things from happening in the first place.

 

[LadyDeath]

Some people would kill a 70yr old turtle just for their frickin fins and walk away. A magnificent creature that saw/experience and live longer than you is killed without a thought or compassion. Trini people too sickening with their old time mentalities. I wish some people get level bite from them in the future if they think about sitting down on them

 

[Shadowhunter]

I think there are people that kill them to use the shells as decoration/trophy items too. Imagine taking a life for something so senseless. I don't know if it's worse when they cut off the fins or impale them and leave them to suffer; it really shows how terrible humanity can be.

 

[nirtime]

It reminds me of a documentary I once saw. There were people who would cut the fins off huge sharks in the deep ocean and leave the sharks to die as they could only spiral downwards without their fins(nav system). It was done to countless sharks just to fulfill demand and make some money....

 

[Shadowhunter]

I've heard about that before. I don't know if it's legal to sell dolphins for meat in Trinidad, but I've seen people clamoring and basically bidding on a bottlenose dolphin in a fish market once. All people like that care about is their belly and to show off. It's not like we're lacking in alternative protein sources for people to be driven to that. There is very little respect for animals. It is public knowledge that these turtles are coming up on shore to lay their eggs and people still target these laboring mothers with their stupidity and related harmful behavior. If you tried that on their own mothers, wives, sisters, or daughters it would be inhumane and cruel though eh. Any other member of the animal kingdom is okay though. These kind of aspects of humanity makes no sense to me.

 

[nirtime]

The idea behind those kind of people's rationale "Once is not me or my loved ones I doh care."

This is what needs to really change down here, imagine a man can get in an accident and people would be saying it good for him, so when humans crap on humans, its far far worse for anything thats not a human.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Quite true! Humanity is lacking in many people and we need more people willing to protect and defend animals from such treatment.

 

[LadyDeath]

Can you all imagine this is what most trini people think leatherback turtles are good for..meat? Are we so poor that we have to eat Turtle meat to survive ? Did chicken, turkey, goat, lamb, beef , fish, shrimp, duck run out of supply in t&t ??? in Come nah man! This is utter nonsense!

 

[Shadowhunter]

And selling it openly like its a totally normal, legal thing! WTF!

 

[LadyDeath]

Yup especially in rural areas such as Mayaro, Mazanilla , North Coast etc these are popular.

Also i hear they also eat the turtle eggs as well...I wonder since when there was a shortage of chicken/duck eggs too?

 

[LadyDeath]

There is now a fine of $100,000 and two years imprisonment if you are caught driving on Las Cuevas beach (or any other beach) and you harm turtles, according to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Act. Turtles were declared an Environmentally Sensitive Species and it looks like the EMA is now cracking down on folks who use their cars to drive on turtle nesting beaches.
Las Cuevas beach is an important turtle nesting beach. During the height of leatherback nesting season more than 40 turtles go there nightly to lay their eggs. At least three species of turtle nest here: Leatherback turtles, green turtles and hawksbill turtles.

 

[Shadowhunter]

This is great news. I hope this is enough to deter people from driving around there.

 

[LadyDeath]

i hope so too! This is awesome news. Let's see now who paying 100,000

 

[nirtime]

I can imagine how much idiots does drive over turtles and their nests...