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| Hawksbill Sea turtle photographed (by me) in St. Augustine, Florida |
Starting on December 1st and going through March 31st, the British Virgin Islands permits a hunting season of Sea Turtles. We aren't talking about deer or rabbits here, people are legally allowed to harvest Hawksbill and Green Sea Turtles, both endangered animals. While there is a size limit (Hawksbill turtles must be 15+inches carapace length and Green turtles 24 +inches carapace length) these sizes mean they are still quite young as Sea Turtles go. And to top it off, Sea Turtles do not reproduce quickly. Only 1 or 2 of 1,000 hatchlings will grow to adulthood because as Crush (Finding Nemo) explains it, "The little dudes are just eggs, we leave 'em on a beach to hatch, and then, coo-coo-cachoo, they find their way back to the big ol' blue." At least some of them do. But it takes 10-20 years before a turtle can even lay eggs.
(There is a moratorium on loggerhead turtles, leatherback turtles, & all sea turtle eggs.)
Anyway, I signed a petition to Ralph T. O'Neal, Premier of the British Virgin Islands, which says:
""Stop the legal harvesting of endangered sea turtles in the British Virgin Islands""
Will you sign this petition? Click here. And you can learn more at On-StJohn.com
How awful! I can't understand why any country would allow an endangered species to be hunted! Terrible.
ReplyDeleteWe are indeed, a pestilence upon the face of the earth.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I had to skip reading this blog post because I HATE hearing about this kind of thing. It just depresses me no end. I support Greenpeace and occasionally WWF, but I still don't want to hear the nasty details. The world is just too depressing!
ReplyDeleteLadyFi: Terrible indeed! I was appalled!
ReplyDeleteDelores: Sometimes I wonder how we manage to have any sort of peace on this earth with the atrocities human commit.
Trisha: Sorry to hear that you didn't read on. I didn't post any of the gory details because I don't need to know all that and don't think it needs to be posted. It's enough to know they're hunted legally. The rest of the post was simply about which species are being hunted and then how difficult it is for them to reproduce. But there is a link to signing a petition so this can be stopped.
...goes to show how we are our own worst enemy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shameful act of cruelty.
El
We certainly have enough to eat without wiping out species. I saw a documentary on tiger hunting which was sickening, too.
ReplyDelete