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THE MUTILATED BODY of a poached turtle at Pebbles Beach in St Michael has not gone down well with the Sea Turtle Association.
Barbados Sea Turtle Project volunteer Darren Browne, in expressing his concern over the act, said he received a call from National Conservation Commission (NCC) workers yesterday when they made the discovery around 6 a.m.
It is illegal to kill turtles, and if caught, persons can be fined $50 000 or be jailed for up to two years.
"What someone has done is cut the flippers away from the shell, taken the shell and all the meat and eggs inside, and then placed the carcass in front of the NCC [kiosk]. It's almost as if they were making a statement," Browne said.
He added that the turtle was an adult female Hawksbill (which was a critically endangered species) weighing over 200 pounds.
"Barbados currently has the second largest population of Hawksbill turtles in the entire Caribbean, and we really can't afford for this to start happening. We can't afford to lose adult female turtles because they take 25 years to reach adulthood," Browne lamented.
He said this turtle had very possibly come up for the first time to nest, because it wasn't tagged.
The volunteer added that the perpetrator would not be able to sell the shell since it was illegal to ship such between the Caribbean islands.
"It's a Cites Appendix One species, which means that international trade in any product is banned. So most likely they took the shell because they needed more time to clean off the meat from the inside," Browne stated.
He said 2003 was the last time there was poaching like this, when a turtle's underbelly was cut out, the meat taken and the eggs left strewn across the beach. (CT)
Nation
THE MUTILATED BODY of a poached turtle at Pebbles Beach in St Michael has not gone down well with the Sea Turtle Association.
Barbados Sea Turtle Project volunteer Darren Browne, in expressing his concern over the act, said he received a call from National Conservation Commission (NCC) workers yesterday when they made the discovery around 6 a.m.
It is illegal to kill turtles, and if caught, persons can be fined $50 000 or be jailed for up to two years.
"What someone has done is cut the flippers away from the shell, taken the shell and all the meat and eggs inside, and then placed the carcass in front of the NCC [kiosk]. It's almost as if they were making a statement," Browne said.
He added that the turtle was an adult female Hawksbill (which was a critically endangered species) weighing over 200 pounds.
"Barbados currently has the second largest population of Hawksbill turtles in the entire Caribbean, and we really can't afford for this to start happening. We can't afford to lose adult female turtles because they take 25 years to reach adulthood," Browne lamented.
He said this turtle had very possibly come up for the first time to nest, because it wasn't tagged.
The volunteer added that the perpetrator would not be able to sell the shell since it was illegal to ship such between the Caribbean islands.
"It's a Cites Appendix One species, which means that international trade in any product is banned. So most likely they took the shell because they needed more time to clean off the meat from the inside," Browne stated.
He said 2003 was the last time there was poaching like this, when a turtle's underbelly was cut out, the meat taken and the eggs left strewn across the beach. (CT)
Nation
