By protecting thousands of turtles from poachers, fishing nets, and the growing amount of plastic pollution, a small charity on the Kenyan coast has become essential to the region’s magnificent turtle population.
Four guys are needed to hoist the massive Loggerhead sea turtle into the back of a car on the beach of the coastal village of Watamu.
She will be taken to a nearby clinic to be examined for injuries after being saved from a fishing tackle. After that, she will be weighed, tagged, and released back into the ocean.
A Kenyan NGO, Local Ocean Conservation (LOC), has been doing this work for almost three decades and has carried out some 24,000 rescues.
“Every time I release a turtle, it’s a really great joy for me. My motivation gets stronger and stronger,” said Fikiri Kiponda, 47, who has been part of LOC’s 20-odd staff for 16 years.
In 1997, LOC was founded by a group of volunteers who were disgusted by the animals being killed or consumed in nets.
For their meat, oil, and shells, turtles are still being poached.
However, Kiponda claimed that “perceptions have significantly changed” as a result of the charity’s awareness programs in villages and schools.
LOC, which relies mostly on donations, compensates fishermen for bringing them injured turtles.
More than 1,000 fishermen participate in the scheme and mostly do so for the sake of conservation, the charity emphasises, since the reward does not offset the hours of lost labour.
