Wounded hawksbill turtle treated, released back to sea

MASBATE CITY, Philippines – A full-grown adult hawksbill turtle was caught tangled and injured in a fish pen in Masbate City Monday morning.

Victoria Cabug, barangay (village) captain of Cawayan Exterior in Masbate City, said the turtle was caught in the fish pen owned by Danilo Verano in her coastal barangay at 6:30 a.m.

She said the residents immediately reported the trapping to her.

Hawksbills, so named for their narrow, pointed beaks are listed as critically endangered species by the World Wildlife Fund.

Cabug said they turned over the turtle to Masbate City Mayor Rowena Tuason who instructed the city agriculturist to give the animal the care it needed.

Masbate City’s agriculturist Tito Velsa and his team released the turtle in a private port in adjacent barangay Punta Nursery at 8:30 a.m. after it was treated for its injuries.

Velsa said the turtle sustained a small crack on the underside of its carapace. It weighed around 12 kilograms.

He said they applied an antibiotic wound spray on the turtle’s broken carapace.

Velsa said 80 percent of turtles accidentally caught in Masbate City’s coastal villages were hawksbills.