Higher fences for Malaysian baby turtles

The Star 15 Jan 10;

GEORGE TOWN: Two layers of fencing will be put up at the hatching sites of the Pantai Kerachut Turtle Hatchery and Conservation Centre to prevent predators from harming newly hatched baby turtles.

The Penang Fisheries Department, which runs the centre, will put up the extra fencing in light of a recent incident where baby turtles at the hatchery were killed, their heads bitten off by iguanas.

The department’s management and resource protection branch chief Mohd Rafi Hasan said it was the first time such an incident took place, adding that the iguanas had climbed over the fence.

“Other than putting up the double fencing, we will also increase the height of the fences. There are natural predators like iguanas and birds in the vicinity as the centre is located near the forest,” he said.

Mohd Rafi also said more officers would be dispatched at night to patrol the hatchery to prevent a repeat of the incident.

A visitor to the hatchery was shocked to find badly injured or headless baby turtles at one of the three hatching sites.

The visitor, who wished to be known only as Yap, said he quickly alerted the centre’s officers who came with a bucket to pick out the surviving baby turtles.

Universiti Sains Malaysia marine biologist Dr Aileen Tan Shau-Hwai said she was not surprised at what happened as baby turtles were exposed to many dangers.

She proposed a green house with good ventilation to avoid a recurrence.

The centre, initiated by the Fisheries Department in 1990 to hatch Green Turtle and Olive Ridley Turtle eggs, was opened to the public in 2007.

It has since collected 34,970 Green Turtle eggs and 329 Olive Ridley Turtle eggs, of which 18,761 and 315 respectively were successfully hatched.