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Endangered Turtle Who Comes To Lay Eggs Discovers Beach Is Now A Runway

Amelia Jones

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Endangered Turtle Who Comes To Lay Eggs Discovers Beach Is Now A Runway

Featured Image Credit: Adam Nasym/Twitter

Tragic pictures have emerged showing a turtle in the Maldives returning to its usual nesting beach, only to find the shoreline has been turned into a runway since its last visit.

Credit: Adam Nasym/Twitter
Credit: Adam Nasym/Twitter

The picture shows the endangered turtle laying its eggs on the tarmac in a futile attempt to nest and take care of its unhatched babies.

"Despite the construction of the runway, the frequency with which turtles visit the island for nesting purposes has not decreased," a source for the Maafaru Island Council in the Maldives told the Edition.

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But according to a report in the Independent, sea turtles are creatures of habit and return to the exact same beach they were hatched on to lay their own eggs. Because: the circle of life.

So dozens more turtles are thought to have made the same mistake - which is bad news for the birth rate of the endangered species.

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While their visits might not have decreased yet, who knows how much damage lowering the egg survival rate will do to future generations.

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With the runway still under construction, there could be further stretches of beach snapped up and tarmacked over.

Plans for a hotel and resort are underway as well, which can't be good news for the endangered giants.

People are pretty defensive about protecting the turtle population and that couldn't have been more evident than during a recent episode of 'Blue Planet Live'.

Viewers were left open mouthed and devastated when they watched a seagull snatch a baby turtle, just moments after the baby reptile had been released onto a beach and was making its way towards the sea.

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Presenter Liz Bonnin was talking about our responsibility to protect the tiny turtles when the bird pounced in the background of the shot.

"We've watched them come up to the sands of Heron to nest and we've also had the great privilege of watching precious new lives, little hatchlings emerging from nests and making it in the big blue," Liz said to camera.

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She was crouching down beside a conservationist who was holding a bucket containing the precious baby turtles and releasing them onto the sand.

"These hatchlings are going to spend at least a hundred years in our oceans if all goes well," she continued. "Surely it's our responsibility to safeguard their futures." Oh, the irony.

Topics: Life News, Real

Amelia Jones
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