Police and Department of Environment staff rescued a turtle weighing more than 300 pounds dragged from its nest by poachers in West Bay last weekend.

A member of the public alerted police that the female green sea turtle had been taken from the beach at Sand Hole Road. The police called Department of Environment enforcement officer Mark Orr who went to the site and after searching the area found the live turtle on her back and trussed up in bushes 40 feet from the beach.

“They had her tied up around her flippers and shoulders. She must have weighed at least 300 pounds. It took three of us to drag her out of there and to flip her over,” Mr. Orr said.

Once she was back on her feet, she quickly headed back to the sea. “She was moving fast, she knew she was in a bad spot,” said Mr. Orr.

The poachers have not been caught.

The turtle, who had come onto the beach to nest, had been captured before she had a chance to lay her eggs. After she was rescued, she returned to the beach a few days later and laid her eggs. DoE staff patrolled the beach for two days after she returned to ensure the poachers did not come back to take her.

This is the third time DoE staff have found poached turtles at this site in recent years. In 2007, they found a slaughtered 350-pound turtle in bushes near the beach and in 2002; they rescued another turtle alive at that location.

Mr. Orr said it was likely the same poachers were responsible because the rope and the knots used were similar in each case.

In another gruesome discovery, DoE staff and volunteers found the head of a large adult loggerhead turtle on a beach in East End on 15 July. Department of Environment staff said it was possible the turtle was slaughtered at sea and the head washed up onto the sand.

This is the middle of turtle nesting season when pregnant turtles come to lay their eggs in nests throughout the Cayman Islands.

In the past, four species of turtles have laid their eggs on the Islands - loggerheads, leatherbacks, green sea turtles and hawksbill.

Janice Blumenthal, a research officer of the DoE, said this year only loggerheads and green sea turtles had been laying eggs here. “We haven’t seen leatherbacks or hawksbills for a few years,” she said.

However, despite the odds, the number of turtles nesting in Cayman has grown this year, with about 20 loggerheads laying eggs here this summer. The season for loggerhead nesting is coming to an end, but nesting for the green sea turtles will continue until October, so the Department of Environment is still gathering data on how many green sea turtles will lay eggs on local beaches.

This marks the 2010 turtle nesting as one of the most successful since the DoE began keeping track of nests, with the help of volunteers, in 1998.

The Marine Conservation Law regulations were amended in December 2007 to expand the no-take season for turtles from April to November. Previously, the no-take season was from May to October.

“In other years, we’ve seen fewer than 10 loggerhead turtles nesting. I think the change in the fisheries has had a big impact. We’re seeing more loggerhead nests this year and the loggerheads were the most impacted by the fisheries.

“There was a closed season in the summer, but you could take turtles in April. The nesting season began in May, so the big loggerheads were already here in April and they were the hardest hit,” Ms Blumenthal said.

She added that killing just one female turtle of nesting age can have a huge impact on the future population of turtles in Cayman. Each turtle can lay between 100 and 130 eggs at one time and can lay several times in one season.

Director of the Department of Environment, Gina Ebanks-Petrie said the change in the size of turtles that can be legally caught during the turtling season had also had an impact on the number of turtles nesting in Cayman. The amended regulations stipulate that only turtles with shell size of 60cm can be caught.

Mr. Orr and other enforcement officers regularly patrol Cayman’s beaches where turtles have nests.

As well as threats from poachers, turtles also face other hazards, including getting disoriented from beach-side lights. Baby turtles’ eyes are sensitive and they can get easily get confused and disoriented when lights are shone on them. That means that when they try to head into the sea, they go in the wrong direction.

Mr. Orr advised members of the public who find hatchlings during the day to call him on 916-4271. In daylight, the hatchlings are easy prey for birds and large fish, he advised, adding that the baby turtles should be kept in buckets of sand covered with a towel or blanket until night time when they can be released and pointed in the direction of the sea.

Obstacles like beach chairs can also disorient an adult turtle. On 15 July, Mr. Orr and a group of volunteers had to rescue a large female turtle from a pool at a condo on Seven Mile Beach. He said the turtle had followed a line of beach chairs on the sand to the condos and had fallen in the pool.

It is illegal to harm turtles or their eggs. There is a maximum fine of CI$500,000 and one year imprisonment.

Members of the public are advised that if they come across a nesting turtle, stay behind her at a distance and remain quiet. Don’t shine a light on her or touch her because she could become frightened or disoriented, causing her to return to the sea before she has fully covered her nest.

The DoE has identified 27 beaches in Grand Cayman, seven in Cayman Brac, and 16 in Little Cayman that are suitable for sea turtle nesting. All sea turtle species are either endangered or threatened.

Anyone who finds a nesting turtle should call the Department of Environment at 949–8469 and anyone who see someone harming or taking sea turtles or their eggs should call 911 or Crime Stoppers on 800-TIPS.