Project to Save Turtles: Yogyakarta, Central Java

By Barrie | September 24th, 2007 | No Comments

Indonesian villagers in the province of Yogyakarta have released 200 baby Olive Ridley turtles in a bid to help save the species.

Under Indonesian law it is forbidden to hunt, capture or eat sea turtles but they have been hunted almost to extinction.

Six months ago an environmental group called the Kutilang Foundation began educating people in coastal regions to help them to save turtles from predators.

The group is teaching villagers to save eggs and has even given them money to buy eggs from poachers, which are then buried near their homes until they hatch and are then released into the sea.

Villager Khoirun said: “I want my great-grand-children to know what turtles are like. If we keep eating their eggs then they’ll become extinct.”

He said the foundation helps him to buy eggs for 7p each from poachers. The 29-year-old fisherman said he spends much of his spare time protecting turtle eggs and nurturing newly hatched turtles.

Convincing villagers, some of whom used to be turtle hunters, and turning them into conservationists is not an easy job for Lim Wen Sin, the project co-ordinator.

Mr Lim said: “The problem is many people treat turtles as commodities. They don’t view them as protected animals.”

Apart from their eggs and meat, turtles are also killed for their shells which are used as ornaments in homes.

Source: Independent Television News Limited