Authorities in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania in East Africa, have dispatched a disaster management team led by Hamza Hassan Juma. He is urging people to refrain from consuming sea turtles.
In November 2021, tragedy struck Pemba as seven individuals, including a 3-year-old child, lost their lives after consuming turtle meat. Additionally, three individuals were admitted to the hospital as a result of this incident.
The species of sea turtle that was consumed in Zanzibar, which was connected to the fatalities, remained uncertain.
A variety of climatological and environmental factors, in addition to human predation, have contributed to the decline of sea turtle populations. This includes the Kemp’s Ridley, the world’s most critically-endangered sea turtle species.
The warming waters off the northeast U.S. coast have presented a new challenge for this species. Instead of heading south as they should, they have been lingering longer into the late autumn of Massachusetts.
Since the 1970s, Kemp’s Ridley turtles have been washing ashore on Massachusetts beaches in a hypothermic state known as cold-stunning by the dozens. A biologist working to rescue as many as possible mentioned to CBS News last year that the number of these animals has increased to over 700 every year.
