With the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) latest missive, (see iNews Cayman story “Why doesn’t WSPA view the CTF ‘independent inspection’ report as a legitimate basis for constructive dialogue?” published April 9^th 2013 at http://www.ieyenews.com/2013/04/why-doesnt-wspa-view-the-ctf-independent-inspection-report-as-a-legitimate-basis-for-constructive-dialogue/) once again calling for the Cayman Turtle Farm (CTF) to cease operating, it may soon be just a mute point.

With the CTF receiving approx. 230,000 visitors per year, CTF Managing Director, Tim Adam, has estimated that they would have to draw twice that number – 460,000 people – about one-quarter of Cayman’s current yearly total visitors, counting both cruise ship and stay-over tourist numbers, just to break even!!

I can only wonder how anyone could even embark on a project of the magnitude of the Turtle Farm as it got enlarged to the facility it now is if when it would require these large tourist numbers.

Didn’t anyone do any homework before it got re-modelled? It was always losing money but not to the grand scale it is now. But we have to thank ex-premier McKeeva Bush for his vision. This is one project he cannot land at the People’s Progressive Movement’s (PPM) door and bash them for squandering our money.

Why they haven’t got back at him for pushing through this colossal squander of our funds without proper appraisal work is a mystery.

But Bush was relying on a new cruise ship facility being built in West Bay back in the days when the late Thomas Jefferson was leader. Do any of you remember all those wonderful architectural drawings of the facility located in Bush Town? Have you forgotten them? And where are these drawings now? Not a mention by anyone.

Then Bush was telling us the CTF was going to be part of the Dolphin Aquarium attraction.

West Bay Cruise Ship berthing facility and Dolphins and the private sector were going to pay for much of it. Ha! The private sector had more sense!

It cost nearly US$48M to build the CTF from its initial small scale facility that relied on selling just turtle-based products that was mainly meat and oil that became illegal to sell outside the Cayman Islands. So tourism became the focus and Bush’s dream has become a nightmare.

Tim Adam thinks that a cruise ship berthing facility built even in George Town would be the answer to the financial woes of the CTF.

Financial records show the overall net loss figures for the Turtle Farm have dropped from about $13 million in 2007/08 to about $8 million in 2010/11.  But these losses are sure to rise again as the running costs of the farm are increasing.

Over the past four government budgets, including the current 2012/13, the Cayman Islands government has spent or plans to spend an average of $9.775 million each year in ‘equity investments’ for the continued operation of the Turtle Farm.

In a report in the Caymanian Compass recently they state Turtle Farm Chief Financial Officer Phillip Fourie, as saying these sums are mostly to pay off debt accumulated by the farm during a redevelopment and expansion effort that was undertaken between 2001 and 2004 and other loans that were taken since that time

For instance, this year Fourie says about $6 million will be paid from the government subsidy to retire the principle and pay off interest on that debt. The other $4.5 million will go to making up operational costs of the farm that its revenues cannot support.

So how much longer can we afford this? If it were to cease operations what detrimental affect would it have on our lives? Is the CTF the only reason tourists come here for?

The WSPA’s latest press release castigates the CTF’s independent report accusing it surprisingly of being “biased”. Of course the WSPA’s own report wasn’t at all biased?

Take a look at the last paragraph in the WSPA release that is completely unbiased!

“In summary, following a thorough review of the resulting report produced by Balazs et al, (2013), WSPA is concerned that the ‘independent assessment’ does not represent an accurate and unbiased reflection of the CTF’s current operation. In addition, WSPA has evidence which contradicts some of the main findings presented in this report and believes that the recommendations provided therein represent actions aimed at addressing symptoms rather than the root causes of the welfare problems within the CTF.  Furthermore, WSPA believes that the recommendations provided by the inspection panel in this report are fundamentally flawed as the fail to recognize that the green turtles within the CTF are wild animals that cannot be compared with other types of domestic livestock. Based on these concerns WSPA has concluded that it cannot view this publication as an authoritative piece of work that is able to serve as the basis for ongoing constructive dialogue.”

They also use the phrase “as originally feared”.

They are concerned over the handling of the turtles by humans claiming it can be a health threat to them from “a recent peer-reviewed scientific paper”. I ask them where is the documented evidence of one single human being having any health concerns after handling a turtle at the CTF? That is evidence. Possible health concerns from a peer-reviewed scientific paper is not!

However, the WSPA might have their wish but it won’t be from all their scientific papers and documented “facts”.