KOTA KINABALU, July 5 ― A carcass of a turtle was found today on the Likas Bay beach, the second to be found in Sabah in as many days.
The first carcass, that of a Green Turtle, was found on the Lok Kelia beach in Kota Belud at about 8am yesterday.
The species of the dead turtle found today has yet to be identified.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said in a statement that the Green Turtle was 94 cm long female and about 30 years old.
“It could have died due to severe respiratory problems due to haemorrhage in the respiratory tract,” he said.
He also said that there was no significant change in the digestive tract of the turtle but it contained seaweed usually cultivated for human consumption.
“Most probably the turtle had visited the area where the seaweed was cultivated before it died,” he added.
Tuuga said the department would issue a statement on the dead turtle found today.
Witnesses reported having seen the turtle floating in the coastal waters and it was probably carried to the beach.
One of them, Mohd Razman Zaidi, 16, a student in Beaufort who was there with several friends, said he arrived at the beach at about 7am and found the carcass already there with flies swarming around.
He said several uniformed officers arrived a little later and took away the carcass in a sack. ― Bernama
