Please stop the slaughter of turtles!

THE EDITOR: I have become aware from the Seasheperd Organisation (a wildlife and conservation organisation) that sea turtles are being slaughtered in large numbers in Trinidad and Tobago due to a loophole in the law which enables people to exploit and kill them.     

Whilst a lot of people may believe that an issue like this is not the business of people who live in other countries, I believe quite the opposite is true. The needless slaughter of animals around the world by people who want to profit from their deaths financially, and the decline in animal populations around the world from pollution, means that everyone, everywhere, no matter what the country, should pull together in order to help these animals flourish and thrive, and not to be wiped out.

Everybody, regardless of boundaries, should have the decency and integrity to allow the world’s wildlife to thrive as it has every right to, without interference by humans. Animals have every right to be living on this planet as humans do — we do not have a right to squeeze them off the face of the planet, as all too often seems to be the case in recent times. What happens when these amazing creatures are hunted down, poisoned by pollution created by man, squeezed out of their habitats by human encroachment? What happens when countless species of animals disappear for good, never to be seen again?

I believe wildlife conservation issues should be widely publicised in order that more and more people become aware of how animal populations are being decimated around the world and can have the opportunity themselves to try to do something about it in order to rectify the situation. The sea turtles in Trinidad and Tobago are a perfect example — had I not logged onto the Seashepherd website I would have not known about their slaughter.

They are amazing creatures that need to be cherished and protected in order that they can thrive. When they haul themselves up onto your beaches after swimming the oceans for hundreds or thousands of miles to return to beaches which they know in order to lay their eggs, they should not have to be confronted by people waiting to slaughter them in the name of profit or possibly to be eaten as “exotic” food by tourists who should know better.

Many people like myself from foreign countries are happy to pay to come and see such beautiful creatures and do what we can help their “cause.” It shouldn’t, however, fall to tourism alone to raise awareness and money in order to help the world’s wildlife to survive. Local people and governments also need to pull together to ensure that wildlife is not hunted to extinction or poisoned by pollution. I hope that your paper can publicise the slaughter of your nation’s sea turtles in order that caring people can step in and hopefully do something about protecting them. If this slaughter carries on for much longer the entire population may be wiped out and then what will the hunters turn to?

CATHY  YORK
Leicester, England