This just in: A 200 kg leather back turtle, known commonly here as pawikan, was found dead on the shores of Bula town in Camarines Sur. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – Bicol, the 138 centimeter turtle was found dead and tangled up in rope.
“The cause of death could have been drowning as the Pawikan failed to resurface for oxygen. It was also believed that there was an attempt to catch the marine turtle but since it weighed heavily, the catchers might have backed off,” the agency reported. The turtle’s body was then buried 200 meters away from the shoreline.
An investigation into the turtle’s death is already under way, the agency stated.
Sadly, way too many cases like this have been popping up recently. Last March, a dead beaked whale was found on the beaches of a town in Compostela Valley. (Read: Shopping bags, rice sacks found inside dead whale in Mindanao) While authorities haven’t fully figured out what happened to the turtle just yet, one thing’s for certain: We’ve made the seas unsafe for our wildlife.
Featured photo courtesy of DENR-Bicol
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Writer: ZOFIYA ACOSTA
