Turtles, especially Sea Turtles, are gorgeous animals and wonderful pets to many people, but this perception of them isn’t so universal. Not nearly so. In Papua New Guinea, Mexico, and Australia, turtles are unfortunately on the menu.
The charismatic, shelled reptiles are, here, nothing more than food. Unsurprising, but still unfortunate. A lot of cultures around the world aren’t in the know on things like endangered species or ecology.
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Sometimes, survival, business, supply, and demand are the only things people are ever taught.
And of course, the ramifications for those without voices to speak up are pretty bad. Especially if they’re endangered. While awareness and action on endangered species have gotten a lot better in recent years, this doesn’t exactly mean we can sit back and relax just yet.
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Catching turtles for food, or “Turtling” is still done in many countries, even with conservation laws in place.
Early this morning, Seashore staff and visitors watched a loggerhead sea turtle return to the ocean after laying her nest. pic.twitter.com/bCuXbvCouI
— Cape Hatteras National Seashore (@CapeHatterasNPS) June 10, 2020
In Papua New Guinea, for example, the wildlife trade puts sea turtles high on the radar for fishers. The demand for turtle meat has put the ocean-going reptiles on the menu, and with it comes drastic impact on their population.
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Arron Culling and co-worker, Mark, thought that they should intervene in any way they can. Without any legal teams to back them up, they couldn’t exactly just storm the local markets and seize all the turtles.
They had to intervene in the best way their status allowed, and there was at least one way they could do that.
It may end up being a bit expensive, but sea turtles are priceless anyway. Arron and Mark sought to purchase the turtles from the vendors themselves and set them free.
Sea turtles are incredibly vulnerable to environmental changes, even the smallest. The local temperature dictates the sex of newborn turtles, and the abundance of predators drastically alters baby turtles’ chances of surviving the nest.
It’s even worse if humans are looting your nests for eggs just so they can sell and snack on them.
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That’s the last thing they need, as the entire Sea Turtle family, Cheloniidae, is endangered. Undoubtedly, this is far worse than a single species being on the endangered list. We aren’t facing the possible loss of one species. This is the possible loss of an entire family, dating back hundreds of millions of years.
Moreover, the underlying cause is miserably undignified, to put things into words. Every member of the family Cheloniidae, from the Loggerhead to the Hawksbill is facing an endangered status.
Climate change and habitat loss are to blame, as usual.
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The famous Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), despite not being a member of Cheloniidae (it sits just outside of the family, but still under the bigger group Chelonioidea) is also in hot water – no pun intended. It is caught as bycatch by fisheries on a fairly frequent basis, in addition to climate change
That and baby Leatherbacks instinctively follow the first light source they see.
On a natural beach, the brightest light source is the horizon over the ocean – which is why Leatherbacks and other Sea turtles evolved this instinct.
With the vast sources of artificial light that humans produce, it’s not hard to see how that’d be a problem for baby turtles on a beach.
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These wonderful animals are threatened with potential extinction, all because people would rather see them on the menu than in the ocean.
Unfortunately, lack of knowledge is a universal cause of most of the world’s problems. Though people like Arron and Mark are a stark reminder that things can change, as long as people can learn.
Upon catching sight of two sea turtles in the market, they wasted no time trying to acquire them and save them. Then they shelled out $50 for both turtles, really a small price for an invaluable species in an ecosystem. Subsequently, they drove 5km to set them free in the ocean.
As long as people like Arron know what’s at stake, and have the will to do something about it, then it’s not all hopeless for Sea Turtles.
If you know anyone who loves Sea turtles and other wildlife, click the share button to they can see. And read up on Sea turtles while you’re at it. The WWF page on them is a great start.
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