Conservation authorities say they have found the remains of eleven green turtles, a protected species near the town of Semporna, Sabah state, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo. “Wildlife crimes with sea turtles in Semporna district are often committed by the Bajau Laut,” a nomadic ethnic group living from the sea, said the director of the Sabah Wildlife Protection Department, Augustine Tuuga.
Green turtles are one of the larger sea turtle species and are considered endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These turtles face multiple dangers, such as hunting by poachers, the fishing nets that trap them, or having their eggs harvested to be eaten. Killing protected turtles is a crime punishable by jail time and heavy fines in Malaysia.