World Animal Protection and Sea Turtle Conservancy comment on turtle meat consumption study results

November 3, 2015 – The organizations World Animal Protection and Sea Turtle Conservancy commented today on the initial results of the Department of Environment’s study on turtle meat consumption in the Cayman Islands, funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)’s Darwin Initiative. The study, “Socioeconomic aspects of turtle conservation in the Cayman Islands, found that approximately 70% of resident households in Cayman did not eat turtle during the previous year and that only around 1% of residents consumed turtle every week. The study also reported that despite the presence of a legal source of turtle meat in the Cayman Turtle Farm, illegal take of wild turtles remains high relative to the size of the wild turtle nesting population, with at least 195 households estimated to have bought illegal turtle meat during the last year.

Dr. Neil D’Cruze, Head of Wildlife Research & Policy at World Animal Protection, and Marydele Donnelly, Director of International Policy at Sea Turtle Conservancy, commented,

“After a two-year wait, the initial results of the turtle meat study are now public. World Animal Protection and Sea Turtle Conservancy are unsurprised to see that only around 1% of Caymanian residents eat turtle on a weekly basis.

Unfortunately, we are also not surprised to see that in response to these results, the Farm is once again ducking behind what we (and other sea turtle protection groups in the Caribbean) commonly call their ‘conservation curtain’.

Their old, and frankly bogus, conservation claim is that the Farm is the only way to protect and prevent the extinction of Cayman’s turtles.  A clever bit of propaganda used to justify the cruelty, public health and financial costs of the Farm.

However, in reality there are many other approaches that could be used to protect Cayman’s turtles. These alternative ways do not place the welfare of its turtles, the health of its residents, and the stability of its economy at unnecessary risk.

For example, huge sums of Caymanian dollars are poured into the Farm each and every year just to prop it up. But what if these millions were redirected to the Department of Environment instead?

Just a fraction of the Farm’s massive subsidies would cover the equipment and salaries needed to tackle poaching and protect Cayman’s remaining nesting sea turtles. To reiterate, the Farm’s claims that it is the only way to conserve Cayman’s turtles are simply not true.

The turtle meat study is not complete. But, Caymanian residents have new vital information to inform much-needed discussion about the future of the Farm. Ultimately it is they that will decide whether and how to protect their turtles.

But this decision should be made with a clear understanding that there are other ways to conserve sea turtles. Ways that address the root causes of their declines rather than simply treating the symptoms of the problem.

While these discussions take place, for now, the Farm continues to hide behind its tired conservation curtain. It’s a shame how it doesn’t seem to have noticed that its recent behavior and the turtle meat study has left it in tatters.”

World Animal Protection and Sea Turtle Conservancy previously published an article in 2014 in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, detailing the extensive animal welfare and conservation problems associated with sea turtle farming.

For more information, visit http://www.worldanimalprotection.us.org/ending-sea-turtle-farming

Our new name is World Animal Protection. We were known as WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals)

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IMAGE: cooked turtle meat