Man trades 1800 pounds turtle for Mercedes
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 05.27.05
In other news, an Albanian fisherman swapped a 806 kilos "dermochelys coriacea" (leatherback turtle) for a used Mercedes that was offered to him by an Italian fish trader. At first, six men tried to drag the turtle to the shore but in the end they had to use a mechanical excavator to do the deed. The event made local nature conservationists react, and we could almost hear the slapped foreheads from here: "The deal provoked the despair of Albanian Natural Science Museum director Idriz Haxhiu, who has personally rescued 450 turtles caught in fishing nets, in a programme that has the support of the United Nations."
"It is a very rare ocean turtle and would have been a great thing for Albania," Haxhiu told Reuters. "The only turtle of the kind ever caught here weighed 820 kilos," he added.
According to Wikipedia, "The Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the biggest of all turtles alive, reaching a length of 2 metres and a weight of up to 1500 lb (600 kg). One individual male weighed 916 kg, though other turtles of this size are rare. It is found in all tropic and subtropic oceans. It is the only species in the family Dermochelyidae." The "conservation status" of the leatherback is considered "critical". More about it here.
::Albanian Swaps Rare, 800 Kg Turtle for Mercedes, via ::ENN, ::The Leatherback Trust & ::Leatherback page at Turtle.org
[by MGR]
That is shocking! In Trinidad and Tobago leatherbacks are often left on the beach after one or more limbs are cut off. The turtle is left living so that the rest of its meat stays fresh. I find this unbelievable in this day and age. To watch a leatherback nest is amazing and to trade the survival of a species is beyond me.