Unprecedented Discovery Of Turtle Eggs

[Kerryd]

It's not all doom and gloom in Pattaya news, nor is it all about expats and tourists !

Unprecedented discovery of turtle eggs

Rear Admiral Jakkachai Pucharoenyot, Commander, Air and Coastal Defense Command, Sattahip, and Doctor Nantrika Sunsue, Director of the Aquatic Animal Diseases Research Center, Chulalongkorn University, informed a group of reporters that they had been nursing a female green turtle (Chelonia Mydas) that had been caught in a fishermen’s net and given to the Sea Turtle Conservation Center at Sattahip naval base on January 14th.

The female green turtle is only 5 years old, but she carried a huge quantity of eggs. In a typical case, the female green turtle has to be at least 15-18 years of age to have that many eggs in her. This case is very exceptional indeed.

Doctor Nantrika Sunsue performed a physical examination and an ultrasound scan to reveal that there were many eggs in her stomach. She also found harmful parasites and gave the turtle a purgative to get rid of them, as well as implanting a microchip into her neck before returning the animal to the sea.

Rear Admiral Jakkachai Pucharoenyot is asking the fishermen and every person not to catch the green turtles as a deliberate ploy. If they are caught by a net, then please release them or bring them to the Sea Turtle Conservation Center at Sattahip naval base if they are injured. The general public is advised not to serve them for dinner nor devour their eggs and should not use their shells as an adornment to your furniture.

Doctor Nantrika Sunsue added that the green turtle species will travel at least 3,000 kilometers from the Thai bay to the Philippines or even the South Chinese Sea. However, this discovery of so many eggs in one so young was truly Amazing Thailand.

Edited January 24, 2009 by Kerryd

[Scott]

I wonder how much those eggs are worth on the Chinese market--especially so close to Chinese New Year!