The World Animal Protection’s (WAP) Dr. Neil D’Cruze said his organisation does not want the Turtle Farm to close its doors but to discontinue its farming of turtles.

Speaking to iNews Cayman last Thursday (31) he said there has been a misconception about what WAP would like to see happen with the Turtle Farm.

He feels the number of turtles being hatched, which he estimates is over 10,000, was dropped to say 2,000 that would be a big step in the right direction. The captive overcrowding cramped conditions at the Farm because of the high number is of major concern to him.

“Sea turtles are wild animals. They are solitary in nature and they travel huge distances each year. They dive to great depths and therefore it’s near impossible to meet all their welfare needs. That is one of the reasons farming of turtles is wrong,” he said.

He also said his colleague and himself had not been allowed free access to the Turtle Farm on this visit, a point I found very disturbing.

He also said it was coincidental he was on the Island at the same time as the British Member of Parliament, Dr Matthew Offord, was here trying to persuade local restaurants to take turtle off the menu and stop promoting the meat to visitors.

He did, however, admit he was 100% behind Offord’s campaign and was present at the Dr’s reception at Grand Old House on Monday (28).

In fact it was WAP that had originally spearheaded the “stop promoting turtle meat to tourists” at the local Cayman restaurants.

He said he was pleasantly pleased with the positive response he had received from many of Grand Cayman’s restaurants. Most had said turtle meat would not be promoted but would be available only if tourists had asked for it.

I said I was not surprised as I didn’t think many restaurants, the ones the tourists would seek out, even had turtle on their menus. He said I was wrong, pointing to The Wharf Restaurant, which he said was advertising turtle meat on their Menu Board as you walked in.

He confirmed he had met with government and the meetings had been open and friendly. They were ongoing.

The World Animal Protection is an international non-profit animal welfare organisation that has been in operation for over 50 years. The charity describes its vision as: “A world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty has ended. It was originally called the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)”.

It has conducted a number of vigorous campaigns to stop turtle farming in Cayman that has seen Sir Paul McCartney on their side and Sir Richard Branson on the Cayman Turtle Farm side.

I asked Dr Cruz if it was possible a joint team both sides would agree on could make an independent report on recommendations for the Turtle Farm.

He said the government and his organisation were discussing that possibility.