‘More than 30’ giant green sea turtles found brutally hacked to death on the beach

More than 30 green sea turtles have been found brutally hacked and stabbed to death on a beachfront in a horrifying attack.

The remote island of Kumejima in Japan found a bale of turtles cut and killed, where the shelled animals were found with slashes and wounds to their necks and flippers.

Residents of the island believe the turtle massacre was because of fishermen who have seen the creatures become tangled in fishing nets around the island.

At least one fishing operator has already admitted to knifing the animals caught in the gillnets, with the man quoted as saying he “had to stab” the animals.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident that left more than 30 sea turtles dead, with officers deployed onto the island that inhabits 9,000 people.

The fishery operator who admitted to stabbing turtles said: “A lot of them were tangled up in fishing nets. I disentangled some of them and released them into the sea, but I couldn’t free heavy ones, so I stabbed them to get rid of them.”

Despite the endangered species tag on sea turtles, reports from Mainichi say that there are an unusual number of sea turtles in the area and sea this year.

Both Japanese authorities and conservation groups assigned the animals as endangered, with the sea turtles often found in the seaweed and kelp beds 1,200 miles away from Japan.

Conservation efforts have been underway to attempt to preserve the turtles, with staff from the Sea Turtle Museum rushing to the scene of the brutal turtle massacre.

Sadly most of the animals had already died by the time the team arrived at the scene, Daily Mail reported.

One employee of the Sea Turtle Museum said: “I have never seen anything like this before. It is extremely difficult to process this.”

Source – Daily Star