Help protect leatherback sea turtles from illegal slaughter
If we can care what Victoria Beckham eats for lunch, how much Ronaldo gets paid a week, and what Madonna’s latest work-out might be, surely we care about one of the greatest species in the world being slaughtered and rapidly becoming extinct.
I’ve been trying to run my first campaign after being a journalist for 25 years. It started after I saw a leatherback turtle laying her eggs. I was mesmerised, awe inspired, and very moved. I discovered that the first leatherback turtle bones date back to the Cretacious Period – that’s over 100 million years ago!
So If you are fortunate enough to see a leatherback, you will witness a creature whose ancestors survived the age of dinosaurs. But now this ancient relic hangs on the brink of extinction because peope are slaughtering her for wild meat and they’re desecrating the beaches where she comes up to lay her eggs. We can stop this. If we rouse ourselves out of the Age of the Selfish and stop thinking about ourselves, celebrity, diets and money for a moment.
I’m no better than you, it’s just that I had the experience of seeing one of these magnificent creatures drag herself out of the sea on my holiday to Tobago and it was my seismic moment. Now I’m trying very hard to do something but the sea turtles and I need your help. Please have a look at my Turtle page on my website – www.sharonfeinstein.co.uk and send a small donation to the Campaign, for which you will be listed on the site. If you aren’t able to send a donation at this time, please do what you can to help spread the word.
The campaign is moving forward with fact gathering and scientific evidence of leatherback slaughters; and of the bright lights on the Tobagan beaches where hatchlings are misled to the roads instead of following the light of the moon back to the ocean. I am working with a vet and scientist spreading the word about what’s happening on this small Caribbean island, compiling a report for the Tobagan Government and environmental agencies, and trying to get pictorial evidence of a slaughter under dangerous conditions.
Thank you for any help you can provide.
July 20th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Loving your blogs Sharon. The Age of the Selfish sums up our society at the moment…..that’s a very PRable phrase!
July 20th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
How nice that you’re reading them. Thank you. Keep writing comments, it’s a voice back. x
July 26th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Hmmmm, it sounds like you’re advocating anti-evolutionary mechanics to prop up a weak species. If evolution wanted that turtle to survive do you think predation and environmental changes would snuff it out? No. It would adapt. Since that’s not happening I suppose you can add that baby to the fossil record.
December 8th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I do agree with all the ideas you have presented in your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Thanks for the post.