Officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service and state law enforcement officers have begun an investigation into the butchering of four Hawaiian green sea turtles whose remains were found on a beach in Moloa’a Bay Sunday. The sex of two
Officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service and state law enforcement officers have begun an investigation into the butchering of four Hawaiian green sea turtles whose remains were found on a beach in Moloa’a Bay Sunday.
The sex of two turtles could not be determined because they were so gutted, authorities said. Another turtle, a female who might have been preparing to give birth, was apparently killed by a machete blow to the head. The other dead turtle also was a female.
Don Heacock, a state wildlife biologist, said the loss of the turtles is significant.
The turtles, believed to range between 25 to 75 years of age because of the size of their shells, were sexually mature. And offspring from them would have helped perpetuate the species.
The turtles, which are believed to reach sexual maturity around 25 years and which can live up to 80 years, are an endangered species protected by the 1978 Endangered Species Act.
There no suspects in connection with the killing of the turtles.
Heacock said it appeared the turtles died either Thursday or Friday, based on the composition of the turtles.
“It may have been Friday night. Some visitors were staying at a bed-and-breakfast place (in Moloa’a Bay), and they heard a lot of commotion Friday night, around midnight.” Heacock said. “There were a lot of people on the beach.”
The turtles might have been nesting when they were attacked, as evidenced by turtle tracks on the sand and partial digs by the turtles for the depositing of eggs in the sand, Heacock said.
“They were vulnerable,” Heacock said. “Whoever did this did a terrible deed. What they did was steal from Hawai’i’s heritage.”
Ancient Hawaiians were “careful in the way they took care of sea turtle,” Heacock said. “Only the ali’i could eat turtle meat, so that limited the harvesting of sea turtles to a few.”
Two of the turtles were so ravaged that their gender could not be determined, although the turtles might have been female because of the presence of “dig sites” at the beach for eggs, Heacock said.
One of the other two turtles had “what appeared to be a cane knife cut on the top of the skull,” Heacock said.
The fourth turtle, a female, had marks on its head to suggest that it had been bludgeoned to death, Heacock said.
Heacock said it is not likely the turtles were killed elsewhere and deposited at the beach, Heacock.
“It is too risky (to move the carcasses around because someone might have spotted the culprits transporting them),” Heacock said. “They are going up against a federal law.”
The law calls for maximum prison time of a year and a maximum fine of $25,000 for killing the turtles, Heacock said.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel at the Kilauea Lighthouse took pictures of the carcasses that could be used as evidence in any trial against those who killed the turtles, Heacock said.
Tarey Low, who heads the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, said the case is under review. State law officer Milton Ching began an investigation Sunday.
Heacock said the advanced state of decomposition of the turtles made it too difficult to conduct a necropsy. “They were bloated … The plates on the shells were starting to peel, which takes two to three days to happen,” he said.
Heacock said Ching contacted the Kaua’i County Public Works Department to bury the remains of the turtles.
Heacock said the public has to be better educated about preserving “these unique natural resources” to prevent future killings.
“We need the watershed community in Moloa’a to become the eyes of the land,” he said. “We need all the watershed communities to keep an open eye and to watch our resources to see how they are used or abused.”
If it had not been for the visitor calling the authorities about the turtle killings, “it would have gone unreported,” Heacock said.
People with information about the killing of the turtles can call the dispatch division of the Kaua’i Police Department at 241-6711 or Ching of the DLNR at 274-3521.
TGI staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (Ext. 225) or e-mail mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
