Turtles, those huge, lumbering gentle (unless you get a bite that is!) creatures that we often see on wildlife programmes, are in danger. We've always been aware of that, but this message was brought home even more strongly after I attended Rasa Sayang's "Turtle Conservation Programme" yesterday, a worthwhile cause they have been supporting for the past 3 decades.
The 20-minute film they put on showed how the numbers which come to land to lay their eggs have dwindled from several thousand annually just one or two decades ago to just 250 in the last few years. And apparently out of every 10,000 baby turtles which hatch only ... get this ... THREE reach maturity! They are delicious prey for other wildlife, the environment, and of course, I'm sad to say , thoughtless and inconsiderate humans who discard old nets and plastic bags in the sea. These poor creatures think that this flotsam is food and eat them with disastrous consequences. We also - and it doesn't bear thinking about; it's not as though we haven't enough types of food as it is - cook turtle soup, and collect the eggs and EAT THEM!! Gross!
We are lucky - 3 out of the 7 remaining species come to Malaysia, and although everyone thinks they just land in the East Coast, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they also come ashore in the Penang National Park - the Green Turtle and the Olive Ridley Turtle. The park appears to be doing its best to stop the decline by helping the eggs to develop by maintaining the natural habitat for them to land and lay, then releasing them as soon as they are hatched into the sea. And although it's really interesting to be able to say "I've seen a turtle lay its eggs", it does result in decreasing the numbers of turtles who come to shore in the future. They are very shy creatures and will return to the sea if disturbed before they start laying.
By just raising awareness amongst a small group, Rasa Sayang is helping - my hat off to them. But take it one step further and do it with school children who are after all future citizens (or as my childless friend scathingly puts it "trainee adults"), and this effect is multipled many fold. With Uplands International School kids it will spread all over the world. It was an interesting and varied event attended by YB Chow Kon Yeow, who represented the Chief Minister, and other dignitaries, after which baby turtles were released into the sea.
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