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Marc De Verteuil / Papa Bois Conservation
Dead leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and smashed eggs are seen on the island of Trinidad after heavy equipment was used to divert a river on July 8.
Thousands of leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and eggs were crushed over the weekend by bulldozers and excavators used to divert a river on the Caribbean island of Trinidad.
"Unfortunately the engineers in charge bulldozed a far greater portion of beach than necessary, and they did destroy many viable nests," the Papa Bois Conservation group posted on its Facebook page.
It wasn't immediately clear how much of an impact the tragedy would have on the critically endangered species, but the group noted that it happened on "the world's most densely populated leatherback nesting beach."
Papa Bois said it wasn't opposed to diverting the river, since it had been eroding not only a local eco-tourist hotel but the nesting area itself. But it noted that the work was done without supervision by "any of the local turtle protection groups."
It also didn't blame the equipment operators, but those "higher up" who told the crews where to work -- "not one of whom was on site to make sure the works were done with as little damage as possible," the group added. "There was no coordination, no leadership."
Marc De Verteuil / Papa Bois Conservation
These leatherback sea turtle hatchlings were saved from heavy equipment that shifted a beach on Trinidad, one of two major islands that make up Trinidad and Tobago.
Sherwin Reyz, a member of the Grand Riviere Environmental Awareness Trust, saved some 500 hatchlings but estimated that up to 20,000 eggs were crushed or consumed by vultures and stray dogs that quickly moved in to eat the remains.
"They had a very good meal. I was near tears," Reyz told the Associated Press. "It was a disgusting mess."
Female sea turtles return to the beaches where they were born to dig sandy nests and incubate eggs. Leatherbacks lay about 100 eggs at a time, but not even 1 percent survive to adulthood.
Leatherbacks are the largest sea turtle species -- some more than 7 feet long and weighing 2,000 pounds. They can live 100 years.
They are also one of seven species of sea turtles, all of which are endangered due to reduced habitat, human consumption of eggs and even being caught up in fishing gear.
Marc De Verteuil / Papa Bois Conservation
This sea turtle hatchling did not survive when heavy equipment diverted a river on a Trinidad beach.
The Trinidad hotel owner who had been asking the government to redirect the Grand Riviere River said he was shocked by how it was handled.
"For some reason they dug up the far end of the beach, absolutely encroaching into the good nesting areas," Piero Guerrini, an Italian who owns Mt. Plaisir Estate Hotel, told the Associated Press. "This could have been avoided with a much wiser approach. But it was done too late and it was done in the wrong way."
Guerrini's hotel was full of tourists who had come to this Caribbean country to see the tiny leatherback hatchlings head for the sea. Instead they saw hatchlings dying in front of their eyes. "This really put a lot of bad images in people's minds," he added.
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Leave a Comment:
Wow! You people on this forum are the most racist, ignorant, self-absorbed idiots on the planet! You don't know anything aout the country, nor the people! Stop casting condescending aspersions on this island! Half of you can't even name the 50 states of the USA, or furthermore have no idea about what's going on in your own country!
I didn't hear any of you idiots ranting and raving when BP and Transocean spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico causing serious damage to marine life! Neither did you all fuss when a pipeline bursted in Michigan! I'm not even from the USA and I know this...but no you people are to ignorant to investigate.
And by the way, Trinidad is a Developing nation you clown!
This is outrageous. I don't see how the leatherback population will ever fully recover from this degradation. That's the most important nesting site in the world for this species. I've written a petition on behalf of those who are angry, demanding Trinidad launch a full-scale investigation and bring criminal charges against those responsible:
If you agree, I hope you will sign it and share with friends.
Okay, that link went away because the site's guardians are afraid you might find something of more interest than MSNBC. If you want to sign my petition demanding Trinidad investigate and bring criminal charges against those responsible for the destruction, please go to Care2.com and search for it there.
do you defend people destroying unborn human life?
all you people wailing and weeping over this story but defend destroying human unborn life have a broken moral compass.
Humans are filthy disgusting animals. Remember to have your kids spayed or neutered.
Somewhere up there in angry comment land someone tried to say that a turtle egg equated to either fetus or zygote stage of a human baby.
A turtle is already a turtle once the egg has been laid. What is occurring inside the unhatched-yet-already-born egg is the development of the gender, shell, and a few other areas of the turtle. This process is not unlike the soft palette development and hardening that occurs in a human baby after birth. The stages of a turtle that match the stages of a human baby in womb, occur before the turtle egg is laid.
If a turtle egg does not visibly contain a turtle when held up to the light after it has been laid, that egg will never hatch into a turtle. It is an unviable egg, and not unlike the human still-birth pre-term.
On another note. To the ones who insist on bringing politics in on every single article online... Let's all get our heads out of our... and perhaps stop finger pointing based upon party platforms from various countries. Anyone who tries to define someone else by who they voted for is just plain not paying attention to whomever they are painting with a definition. Anyone who allows a political platform to define themselves is no longer making decisions for themselves.
This story is certainly a tragedy, and gross oversight was obviously involved. Hopefully, the people in Trinidad in the area can do what they can to help the surviving Leatherbacks to recover from this incident. And hopefully, just maybe, the next place that needs to divert or build or anything near a spawning ground for any creature will learn from this incident's horrendous mistakes.
I didn't say it 'equated'.
YOU just gave human life in a mother's stomach LESS worth than the life in a turtle egg.
that is sick. all the whining and crying about turtle eggs by ANYONE who promotes/pushes/defends abortion, which is PRECISELY the destruction of a LIVING unborn human life is a sign of a BROKEN MORAL COMPASS!!!
Humans are filthy disgusting animals. Remember to have your kids spayed or neutered.
So basically we still at this point could care less about the environment... idc what it was for or how it helps us its just wrong to mess with what little Nature has left after what we have done. How about renovation over expansion. plenty of @!$%# properties that require the SAME AMOUNT to plow over rather than build somewhere else. Make something beautiful out of something old.
It is infortunate that sometimes technology destroys the natural world. it is said you cannot make an omelet wqithout breaking eggs ...
Rememer that when your the egg.
yeah for the people playing the Numbers game your right 20,000 eggs , 500 saved , that's better then 1% its not that bad the sea turtles are just fine , here more numbers for you 100,000 people , 95,000 saved , that's better then 1% war is not so bad ............so lets just keep doing what we are doing and everything will be fine ! and years from now when there are no polar bears or tigers for my kid's and my kid's , kid's to see in the wild (tv) will you still think that 1% WAS GOOD ?
It was a honest mistake. Negros know not what they do. Negros in America do not have the ability to obtain a photo ID to vote . Why would we expect more from third world island Negros.
By which travesty of justice are the people responsible still alive? They should have been executed. No trial, no nothing. That's what would have happened if I'd been there. Bullet in the head, and if I go to prison it's worth it.
Turtle soup anyone ????????????
Turtle soup anyone ????????????
Frikkin negroes don't deserve the paradise island they were dumped on as slaves 200 years ago .... Pick em all up and send them to live in detroit ... Give the island to nature lovers ....Unbelievable ...
Too late. We've already colonized that. Now it's on to New Zeeland....
I suggest we arm the sea turtles with RPG's and IED's, and then teach them evasive manuevering techniques.
Kill 20,000 humans and your a monster and we are not endangered, doesn't make sense.
This received more distress than the Syrians slaughtered recently.
Are we that cold towards our own species?
to conservativenotrepublican: yes the eggs contained turtles that were hatching or about to hatch, that's why the tourists were there. When they were laid they were just eggs. so, they killed live viable lifeforms. Aborting a fetus before viability is legal, although I would never make that CHOICE. 500 turtles were saved, after hatching. I realize this is a late reply, but at the time this was done they were hatched or about to hatch, so, again, viable. Aborting a fetus at 22 weeks, not viable. This would be akin to killing a baby right before birth or right after. So there is an answer to your question. I do respect your opinion, just don't agree. Still a sad situation.
We had to destroy the village to save the village...
Are you kidding me all the technology in the world and we could not save 20,000 eggs! Sometimes I hate reading the news on a Monday!!
The surviving Leatherbacks should be hand-raised to adulthood and released to the sea from a nursery constructed specifically for that purpose.Let the contractor incur all of the financial burden.
How senseless is this? These are rare and endangered creatures, how could people be so ruthless. There should have been plans in place to prevent this from happening.
Gee, they couldn't have waited a week or two? Christ!
Liberal Logic:
Killing turtle eggs is a high crime and deserving of outrage.
Killing unborn babies is a woman's right and deserving of praise.
Yes, careless and senseless death is a high crime and deserves outrage.
Per biological and legal definitions, it's not a baby; abortion is a woman's option; nobody praises abortion.
No. What you posted is James Burke-7230944's version of liberal logic.