Endangered turtle strangled
A sad story crossed my desk today. About 10.30am I received a call from someone who said they had seen a giant turtle washed ashore near Carpenter Rocks, about 5km from the lighthouse.
I had to reorganise things in the office, but I sent a cadet journalist on a 35km trip with a camera to see what he could find.
We agreed he should call in at the Carpenter Rocks store before proceeding to get confirmation and directions.
The story was true, but it turns out there was no road anywhere close to where the turtle had washed up.
To his credit, the cadet walked 5km each way (10km) to the site. Dressed in formal work wear, he left his shoes and tie in the car and walked the beach in bare feet.
He discovered the turtle and came back with some emotional photos. The six-foot long turtle had died of strangulation in a fishing net.
Truly moved by the pictures, I’m so impressed with the cadet and I’m pleased for him as well.
Two weeks ago I sent him on a similar mission to Nelson where a whale had beached. After walking 3km into a gale force wind (the seagulls were being blown backwards) he found a rotting carcase, and given a grey sky the photos were not much good.
We ended up using a contributed picture instead.
This time the dead turtle had not begun to decompose, and given it’s a remote site we were among the first people on the scene.
It turns out Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett placed the turtle on a threatened species list two weeks ago.
Combined with current debate about marine parks, it was a great photo to get at this time.
The story will be front page of the paper tomorrow.
Tags: environment, south australia
Nice work on the cub reporter’s part … 10K is a nice walk. (I realize it’s nothing for Australians … I’ve seen the Dundee movies.)
Several years ago I started a walk on a beach and half-way to my destination (a toilet) noticed the sand was terribly hot. I had Sammo with me … at the time about five … and ended up having to carry him. I burned my feet so badly on the sand that a giant blister formed on the bottoms of both feet.
I’m happy to see the cadet didn’t suffer the same fate. (Of course, maybe he’s just tougher and not one to complain.)
Ooh no… poor turtle !
six feet is about two meters isn’t it ? wow !!
I used to have a 4.6 cm long one..!
Very well done to the cadet barefoot walker journalist,
the pictures are great !
oh dear, poor turtle
Here we see what looks like nylon rope and styrene floats.
One of the great scourges of the oceans now is all the plastic floating in them. This doesn’t receive remotely as much coverage as oil spills. However, crude oil is a naturally occurring organic compound and will degrade and disappear over time in oceanic waters. It makes for spectacular horror shows when slicks hit beaches but the overall effect on species is trivial.
Plastic is a much more serious threat because of its durability and by virtue of accumulation in the environment is a real threat to some species of marine creatures. Here we see what looks like nylon rope and styrene floats.
I found the turtle’s manner of death disturbing and the photograph compelling.
I’m surprised no other media picked up on it. Maybe it’s because the turtle was found 5km from a road?
It’s extremely unusual for those turtles to be found in southern waters. A very sad photo indeed.