Con Dao National Park on Thursday said it had recently found the body of a green sea turtle washed up on Dat Doc beach, Con Dao Island off the coast of Ba Ria - Vung Tau southern province.

The mother turtle, weighing about 85 to 90kg, was 91cm in length and 83cm in width, appeared to be killed before being washed ashore.

The reptile was found with an around 15cm incision on its right hip and without eggs and viscera inside.

Its left front flipper was also fastened with a 1.5m rope.

The turtle was in a state of decay and died about a week before it was found.

An around 15cm incision is seen on the turtle’s right hip. Photo: Van Vung

According to local forest rangers, the mother turtle might be killed for its eggs. 

After killing the reptile to get its eggs, the poachers used a long rope to tie the front flipper of the turtle to the corals on the seabed to destroy the traces. 

After about a week, a part of the rope tied to the coral broke off, the turtle emerged and was washed ashore.

A representative of Con Dao National Park called the killing “very cruel and barbaric.”

He also said this is a criminal case, and anyone who catches and kills green sea turtles to get eggs is subject to criminal offense. 

A rope is tied to the turtle’s flipper. Photo: Van Vung

Con Dao National Park will join functional agencies and local authorities to discuss solutions to dismantling this type of crime.

Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is on the government's list of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection.

Over the past time, the authorities in Con Dao had criminally treated many cases of storing, transporting, as well as trading green sea turtles.

Years ago, they also discovered a case of catching a green sea turtle and slaughtering it for meat, organs and eggs but it was on land.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!