Turtles have unique facial patterns that can be used to identify them, like a human's fingerprints. Photo: Supplied / Te Ipukarea Society
A Cook Islands animal sanctuary is raising the alarm about malnourished turtles washing up dead on Rarotonga's beaches.
Discover Marine and Wildlife Eco Centre director Stephanie Jansen told Pacific Waves that a lack of nutrient-rich food, such as seagrass, on the island is causing turtles to eat indigestible food.
According to Jansen, who has rescued multiple turtles over the years, without seagrass to feed on, turtles are smaller, weaker, and increasingly prone to starvation.
She said that, as a result, she has only been able to save one turtle.
"Whenever there is a turtle stranded on the beach, I am usually at the forefront, I bring them back here. But it is usually hospice. They are so light and they are so sick that they die very quickly."
Stephanie Jansen with a recued green turtle being cared for at the Discover Marine and Wildlife Eco Centre in 2019. LOSIRENE LACANIVALU Photo: Cook Islands News / Losirene Lacanivalu
Jansen said that feeding stations are urgently needed to rebalance turtles' diets and rescue them from starvation.
She said turtle operators working in the Avarua Passage - which has around 30 resident turtles - are the source of the reports, as they are seeing these turtles all the time.
"What I would like to see happen is that we set up feeding stations for these turtles.
"If we just put things like cucumbers, capsicums, cough, lettuce, that sort of thing, around in the passage, so that they have got supplementary feed just to keep them going."
Additional reporting by Cook Islands News.
