Kendrapara (Orissa), Feb 13: The tranquil Satabhaya coast along Orissa's Gahirmatha marine sanctuary has turned into a graveyard of Olive Ridley sea turtles, days ahead of the 'arribada' or mass laying of eggs. The lifeless bodies of the unique aquatic species lined a kilometre-long stretch of the sandy beach presenting a tragic sight and more bodies piled up with each passing day.
Official sources said around 1900 bodies were counted till date within the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, but Sashmita Rout, the sarpanch of the Satabhaya grampanchayat, claimed that as per a conservative estimate, the latest toll should not be less than 5000.
Rout said the beach wore a ghastly look with bloated and decomposed bodies being dissected by stray dogs. There were deep marks of injury on some of the bodies.
Last year too hundreds of turtles were found dead on the same spot - victims of illegal poaching by mechanised fishing trawlers - raising animal lovers' concern.
Thousands of Olive Ridleys get killed along the Orissa coast every year by getting entangled in the nets of the trawlers that operate illegally in the prohibited zones when lakhs of these endangered species congregate for mating.
Rout said the count would go up in the next few days and fears that the decomposed bodies of these turtles may trigger health problems.
"Pungent odour emanating from the beach has made the lives miserable for residents of nearby Satabhaya village. We are apprehensive that the heaps of decomposed bodies might trigger health hazards," Rout said.
"We have asked the Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Forest Division officials to take stock of the situation," the chief conservator of forest, S A Srivastava, said.
As a large number of carcasses are yet to be buried, stray dogs have acted as scavenging agents eating up the bodies, he said.
Posts
