I was reading about marine turtles and came to this article. It is a recent one and I am very concerned.
Marine turtles in Sabah are protected by the Wildlife Department. What threatened their survivals are habitat loss, accidental catch in fishing nets and poaching of eggs and adults. Turtle’s population are dwindling and as custodian of Earth, it is our responsibility to make sure that these animals doesn’t disappear from our planet forever.
I still see people buying turtle eggs here in Sabah. It saddened me to say that a few times I went to a ‘kenduri’ here, turtle eggs are served. It is disgusting for me to see people sucking the eggs with satisfaction. I talked to this woman next to my mom about how turtles are on the verge of extinction and how we should all try to help. I tell her the benefits of not eating turtle eggs. She just laughed and said “Well, they’re already cooked anyway. Nothing I can do but eat la.”
We have to understand that the selling stop when the buying stop. And the buying will stop when we stop eating it. If everyone thinks like this woman then there is no hope.
It takes decades for turtles to reach maturity to breed. And once they nest, the turtle will go back to the sea leaving her eggs buried in the sand. After about 7 weeks, the hatchlings will emerge and ran crawling to the sea. There are many predators to these hatchlings. Monitor lizards, crabs & birds attack them on the beach. And when they reach the sea, sharks & other fishes prey on them. So it is a hardship for them to just reach the open sea. On top of that, from the moment they were born, they have no mom to love them :( Only about 1% of baby turtle will survive and reach breading age. Imagine that!
Stop eating turtle eggs!!
6 comments:
Here in Kudat, not only the villagers eat turtle eggs, the bussinessmen here who came from other places in Malaysia eats them and one bussinessman here said he drinks fresh turtle blood for longevity n to cure illnesses. When I explain to him about how turtle is an endangered species and you should save them not kill them cos eating them wont cure u from any illnesses, stubbornly he said 'Ey, better u save me than save the turtle' what for ah?. Next time I see this guy, I will sepak him :p
sof... i'll help u to sepak dat guy ok..
oh the confiscated turtle eggs were given to Reef Guardian. The staff dug hundreds of nests to bury them. Hope its not too late and the eggs turn into hatchlings.
What did you say back to him, Sof?!
I said 'what for saving u?' hehehe Any other good suggestion?
Sof maybe you should say to him..i'll save u and bring you to the authority....willsee wat will he answer you back
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