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Dermochelys coriacea. Credits: Wikipedia

Turtle found slaughtered

Within a week of the leatherback turtles beginning their celebrated return to nesting sites along Trinidad”s north coast, one has been found slaughtered, left legless and without fins. The dead turtle was found last Friday on the shore of Pezance Beach, five miles from Matura – the village where many of the turtles drag themselves ashore at night – from March to September – to lay hundreds of eggs.

Hundreds of turtle watchers have begun their yearly pilgrimage to Toco to watch over the turtles and prevent the slaughter.

A Sangre Grande fisherman, nicknamed Lango, told the Express that he was fishing off the rocks when he saw vultures circling the carcass.

“At first I thought it was a dead man but when I got closer I realised what it was not.”

Sonny Maharaj, a caretaker in the village said he was sure the turtle was killed.

He said that around 5.30 a.m. on Thursday, he spotted turtles swimming to shore and went into the village, to bring friends to see the spectacle.

“By the time I came back, I saw two men on the beach leaving the area.”

Maharaj said he found the turtle “trembling” but still alive, with its fins and legs hacked off.

Leatherbacks are endangered and protected by law.

They are the largest sea turtles, growing up to ten feet and weighing as much as 1,000 pounds. Matura is considered an important nesting site.

(From trinidadexpress.com, Trinidad and Tobago, by Louis B Homer )

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