As the centuries pass, humans are becoming more reckless in the way we treat the environment. We take Mother Earth for granted as we slowly destroy everything beautiful in it.
Recently, on Tuesday (1 May 2018), two turtles were found dead in Pulau Perhentian, Terengganu. They were believed to have been struck by a boat during the Labour Day long weekend holidays, reported The Star. One of the turtles were even sliced in half!
Source: Facebook
These turtles were discovered floating in the water by members of the Perhentian Turtle project; they joined hands with Terengganu’s Department of Fisheries to carry the turtle carcasses back to shore, which they later buried near a shipwreck.
“We had a lot of tourists coming to the island for the long weekend and the boat traffic grew really heavy and busy.”
“Some of the boatmen drive really fast and this could have caused a boat’s propellers to hit the turtles,” said Wan Zuriana Wan Sulaiman, project leader of the Perhentian Turtle project.
She added that they couldn’t identify the gender of the turtles because they were juvenile and not sexually mature.
The shocking photos of the dead animals were then posted on Perhentian Turtle project’s Facebook page, and it has since gone viral with nearly over 6,000 shares at the time of writing.
Source: Facebook
Nonetheless, this isn’t the first time they have found turtles carcasses by the sea. Zuriana said there were at least six turtle deaths reported from March to May 2018, of which five of them were caused by boat strikes.
Prior to this, 16 turtle deaths were reported in 2017. That’s a pretty shocking number as turtles are endangered animals!
The cause of these pitiful deaths are found to be the entanglement in “ghost” nets/lines (fishing gears that are irresponsibly thrown into the sea as they continue to trap and harm animals) and other unknown reasons.
For illustration purposes | Source: Wikipedia
“If these turtles hadn’t been hit, they would have lived a long and prosperous life, swimming thousands of kilometres and seeing many wonders of the oceans that us humans can only dream of.”
“Please, if you are visiting the islands or any area where you know there are turtles present, ask your boat driver to slow down,” he wrote on the Perhentian Turtle project Facebook page.
Besides that, she also shared that normally, only one in 10,000 hatchlings will survive the open sea and reach maturity. So, losing even just one of them is a big deal!
For illustration purposes | Source: India Samvad
“We are in a race against extinction but with everyone’s effort, we can surely turn the tide,” she explained.
Zuriana further urged the authorities to monitor boat activities and speed limits around the island, especially around the turtle nesting areas. She suggested that boats should have propeller guards, which can prevent propellers from hurting marine life. Like the one shown below:
For illustration purposes | Source: PropellerSafety.com
With that said, the environment is our responsibility as it is our home as well as the home of many other species that need our protection. Thus, if we don’t preserve them, not only will we lose them permanently, but we will also disrupt our ecosystem!
So, remember to always protect and preserve our beloved flora and fauna guys!
Also read: We Need to Talk About the Brutal Poaching of Endangered Turtles in Malaysia
