30 November 2005
Back to the sea, it went
Giant sea turtle saved from butchering returned to ‘home’
A GIANT sea turtle cared for in one of the research tanks of the Integrated Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) in Dagupan City soon after it was saved from being butchered in Lingayen town was returned to the sea late last week.
Reggie Regpala, Aquaculturist 1 of the center, said the aquatic animal was brought in by residents of barangay Maniboc in Lingayen led by their barangay captain Elizardo Laureta who seized the same from a fisherman who had tied it and was preparing to bring it home for butchering.
The fisherman, whose name was not immediately known, said he caught the turtle with his net while fishing along the coastal waters of the Lingayen Gulf last Nov. 17 in the morning.
Knowing that the fisherman’s catch was a sea turtle belonging to an endangered specie that must be protected, other fishermen went to report the matter to Laureta.
Laureta lost no time in going to the seashore to look for the fisherman. Once he saw him, he asked for the sea turtle which the fisherman readily brought out and gave to him.
Regpala said the turtle had to be treated first of injuries in the body which it suffered after being tied, before it was put into the tank filled with about four feet deep of sea water.
It was not clear by whose authority the turtle was released.
Regpala could not say how old the sea turtle was but judging from the circumference of its oblong-shaped shell, it could now be more than 10 to 15 years old or even older.
The sea turtle was kept in the tank temporarily along with three other sea turtles that are already there, to await final disposition from proper higher officials.
The turtle, along with other turtles there, appeared friendly, oftentimes surfacing from the water to let people touch its shell and head.
A GIANT sea turtle cared for in one of the research tanks of the Integrated Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) in Dagupan City soon after it was saved from being butchered in Lingayen town was returned to the sea late last week.
Reggie Regpala, Aquaculturist 1 of the center, said the aquatic animal was brought in by residents of barangay Maniboc in Lingayen led by their barangay captain Elizardo Laureta who seized the same from a fisherman who had tied it and was preparing to bring it home for butchering.
The fisherman, whose name was not immediately known, said he caught the turtle with his net while fishing along the coastal waters of the Lingayen Gulf last Nov. 17 in the morning.
Knowing that the fisherman’s catch was a sea turtle belonging to an endangered specie that must be protected, other fishermen went to report the matter to Laureta.
Laureta lost no time in going to the seashore to look for the fisherman. Once he saw him, he asked for the sea turtle which the fisherman readily brought out and gave to him.
Regpala said the turtle had to be treated first of injuries in the body which it suffered after being tied, before it was put into the tank filled with about four feet deep of sea water.
It was not clear by whose authority the turtle was released.
Regpala could not say how old the sea turtle was but judging from the circumference of its oblong-shaped shell, it could now be more than 10 to 15 years old or even older.
The sea turtle was kept in the tank temporarily along with three other sea turtles that are already there, to await final disposition from proper higher officials.
The turtle, along with other turtles there, appeared friendly, oftentimes surfacing from the water to let people touch its shell and head.
