The Star 15 Jun 12;
THREE locations will mark the World Sea Turtle Day (WSTD) celebrations this Saturday and WWF-Malaysia invites the public to show their support for these ancient marine creatures!
It’s three times the fun at Terengganu, Malacca and Sabah with events aimed at raising awareness on the need to protect the endangered species and their nesting beaches.
Four of the seven sea turtle species can be found in Malaysia.
In Terengganu, the campaign themed Telur Penyu: Beli Jangan, Makan Pun Tidak! (Turtle’s Egg: Don’t Buy, Don’t Even Eat!) is jointly organised with Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and will be held at Bazaar Warisan, Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu from 8.30am to 5pm.
Exciting activities include face painting, exhibitions, pledge signing, a talk by renowned motivational speaker Dr Harlina Halizah Siraj, turtle-inspired performances and a special appearance by the players from Terengganu’s football team, Skuad Penyu.
The WSTD celebration will also be held in the historic city of Malacca, home to the largest po-pulation of Hawksbills in Peninsular Malaysia.
Themed “Malacca Our Home, Hawksbills Our Heritage”, the event is jointly organised with the State Department of Fisheries in collaboration with the Education Department, Tourism Ministry, Malacca Office and other state government agencies.
Held at Dataran Pahlawan at Jalan Merdeka from 11am to 8pm, the public will be treated to a fun-filled day featuring turtle race, face painting, pledge to save turtles using turtle origami and special performances, among others.
Joining the celebration in Semporna, Sabah this year, WWF-Malaysia will organise a two-day and one night camp tomorrow for local children.
With the theme “Celebrating World Sea Turtle Day: Sea Turtle Camp”, treasure-hunt games on the beach based on the turtle life cycle and snorkelling at seagrass beds to search for grazing turtles will be carried out.
And if the participants are lucky that night, they would be able to see a turtle laying eggs during beach patrolling as the nesting season has begun.
Details on these events are available at www.wwf.org.my.
Malaysia: Total fun on World Sea Turtle Day
Farik Zolkepli The Star 13 Jun 12;
KUALA TERENGGANU: It will be three times the fun when WWF-Malaysia celebrates World Sea Turtle Day this weekend.
Three states Terengganu, Malacca and Sabah will be the focus of the celebration with whole-day events on Saturday to raise awareness on the need to protect the endangered species and their nesting beaches.
Four of the seven sea turtle species can be found in Malaysia, said WWF-Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma.
He said the three states were chosen for their importance in turtle conservation.
“Terengganu is renowned for its turtle population, Malacca for having the largest population of hawksbill turtles in peninsular Malaysia, while Sabah has the Semporna district, which has an important project to empower people to preserve sea turtles,” Dr Dionysius said.
In Terengganu, a campaign to discourage sales and consumption of turtle eggs will be jointly organised by WWF-Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu at Bazaar Warisan in Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin here.
The activities would include face painting, exhibitions, pledge signing to save turtles, a talk by motivational speaker Dr Harlina Halizah Siraj, turtle-inspired performances and a special appearance by the state's Skuad Penyu football stars.
In Malacca, the event, themed Malacca Our Home, Hawksbills Our Heritage, will be jointly organised with the state fisheries and education departments and the Tourism Ministry, with the support of other state agencies.
The festivity at Dataran Pahlawan in Jalan Merdeka will also feature a host of activities, including a turtle race, face painting, pledge signing and special performances.
In Semporna, WWF-Malaysia will organise a two-day children's camp.
The activities would include a treasure hunt, snorkelling at the seagrass beds to search for grazing turtles and beach patrolling.
For enquiries, log on to www.wwf.org.my.
