Two arrested in suspected Tobago turtle poaching

Two men have been ar­rest­ed af­ter wildlife of­fi­cers al­leged­ly found a dead sea tur­tle, tur­tle meat and tur­tle eggs dur­ing an en­force­ment op­er­a­tion at Lam­beau Beach, To­ba­go.

The De­part­ment of Nat­ur­al Re­sources and Forestry said the ar­rests were made around 9 am on Thurs­day af­ter of­fi­cers dis­cov­ered what they be­lieve were the re­mains of a sea tur­tle and eggs un­law­ful­ly re­moved from a nest­ing site.

The mat­ter re­mains un­der in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

Sea tur­tles are pro­tect­ed un­der Trinidad and To­ba­go law and are list­ed as En­vi­ron­men­tal­ly Sen­si­tive Species un­der the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Act. Any­one con­vict­ed of hunt­ing, killing, pos­sess­ing or sell­ing sea tur­tles or their eggs can face a fine of up to $100,000, two years' im­pris­on­ment, or both.

The de­part­ment urged the pub­lic to re­port wildlife crimes to its of­fi­cers or the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice.