OUT OF HIS SHELL A marine turtle measuring at least a meter long and weighing more than 50 kilograms climbs up Baguan Island, a part of Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi province. FILE PHOTO/CONTRIBUTED BY LETI BONIOL
LUCENA CITY — A giant sea turtle, locally known as “pawikan,” was found dead on Wednesday morning, May 1, on the shore of Atimonan town in Quezon province.
The marine turtle was washed ashore on the pier in Barangay Caridad, the Atimonan Public Information Office (PIO) reported on its Facebook page. The town lies along the coast of Lamon Bay in the Pacific Ocean.
The PIO said the dead animal was probably a leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).
The authorities immediately buried the turtle’s decomposing body. The report did not specify the cause of its death.
READ: ‘Pawikan’ found dead in Tayabas Bay in Quezon
The leatherback turtle is classified as “vulnerable” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
According to Oceana, the largest international advocacy organization focused on ocean conservation, the leatherback turtle is the “largest turtle species in the world.”
The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 and the Wildlife Act punish people who fish and take rare and threatened species and destroy their habitats.