On a South Carolina beach, a group of uncivilized swimmers harassed a poor green sea turtle while laying eggs
Horror on a South Carolina beach, where last week a group of swimmers harassed a poor sea turtle while she was laying eggs. And someone, probably drunk, has even seen fit to ride it, risking to have it crushed to death. The SCUTE (South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts) group, made up of volunteers dedicated to the conservation of these endangered marine creatures, has raised the alarm.
A green sea turtle came ashore at Garden City Pier where it was harassed, photographed and ridden. - activists say - The HCPD (Howard County Police Department) police have been contacted, but the criminals have fled. The good news is that when they left, the turtle returned to the nest to protect its 77 eggs.
@Vanessa Smith/Garden City Surfside Sea Turtle Guardians (Facebook)
Police also confirmed that they had received several reports of mistreatment of the poor animal, the first documented green sea turtle in South Carolina.
In the United States, sea turtles are protected from Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 and from Marine Turtle Protection Act, which prohibit "taking, disturbing, mutilating, selling, transferring, harassing any turtle and destroying its eggs and nests".
According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, people who have violated federal law by harming or interfering with sea turtles or their nests face hefty fines of up to $ 25.000 (which equates to approximately $ 21.200) and even a year of imprisonment.
We sincerely hope that the people who are guilty of this crime will pay for the terrible act done!
Fonte: SCUTE (Facebook)/Garden City Surfside Sea Turtle Guardians
Read all our articles on turtles:
- If you find a beached turtle (dead or alive), don't put it back into the sea. Call 1530!
- The plastic waste on the beaches is giving birth to all female turtles, the alarm of the biologists
- Turtle used as a balloon, the brutal game stopped just in time
