‘Red tape’ kills giant sea turtle

DAGUPAN CITY – Too many cooks spoil the broth, as the saying goes.

This apparently describes the "runaround" an injured giant sea turtle found itself in after it was caught in a creek in Bugallon town last Nov. 4.

Personnel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Barangay Bonuan Binloc here treated the turtle. It even laid some eggs.

But the turtle died five days later. It was buried at the so-called Cemetery for Endangered Aquatic Animals at the BFAR center in Bonuan Binloc where 11 dolphins were similarly buried.

Westly Rosario, local BFAR chief, said he was saddened by the turtle’s death, lamenting that they could have saved it had it been brought to them immediately.

But "protocol" prevailed in the handling of the turtle which three farmers found in a creek, thus worsening its condition.

First, it was brought to the barangay captain, then handed over to the vice mayor and later to the Pangasinan College of Fisheries-Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in Binmaley town.

"One agency said it planned to put a tag around the neck of the injured turtle to indicate it was an endangered species so that once caught again, its finder would not kill it for food," Rosario recalled.

The giant sea turtle, the first such animal seen in Pangasinan, weighed 41 kilograms. It was 84 centimeters long, and its shell measured 63 by 66 centimeters.

What keeps BFAR technicians excited though is the expected hatching of the turtle’s eggs.