On Monday, August 29, Ecuador’s Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it is investigating the alleged hunting and killing of four giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands.
The unique and fragile ecosystem is a World Heritage Site.
The prosecutor’s office announced on “Twitter” that it was investigating the “suspected hunting and killing of four giant tortoises in the wetland of the Galapagos National Park.”
A unit specializing in environmental crimes is collecting testimonies from national park staff and commissioning experts to autopsy the turtles.
The park administration had previously filed a complaint about the death of the animals, the Ministry of Environment announced through its WhatsApp channel.
The ministry did not specify which species the four turtles belonged to but said they were hunted in the wetlands of Isabela Island, which is located 1,000 kilometers from the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean.
Hunting wildlife in Ecuador is punishable by up to three years in prison. In 2019, a man who rammed a turtle and damaged its shell was fined US$11,000.
That same year, another driver was fined more than US$15,000 for running over and killing a native Galapagos iguana.
With an area of more than 4,500 square kilometers, Isabela is the largest island in the archipelago and accounts for 60% of the land area of the remote oceanic chain.
The Galapagos archipelago is a biosphere reserve due to its unique flora and fauna. It was once home to 15 species of turtles, three of which became extinct centuries ago, according to the Galapagos National Park.
In 2019, a Chelonoidis phantastica turtle was discovered on the island, more than a century after its supposed extinction.
With information from Latina Press