You may remember that back in November last year, we asked for your help to support the WSPA’s work to stop sea turtle farming in the Cayman Islands. Well, we have some fantastic news filtering through, that thanks to everyone who got being this cause, the company has decided to make many positive changes to their business.
An amazing 144,000 people supported the WSPA’s call for change, making it very difficult for the Cayman Turtle Farm to ignore. This all came about after an investigation by the wildlife charity into how the animals were suffering due to their shocking conditions. The farm has now admitted that the turtles in their care are suffering from health problems, and have agreed to make a change to their business model.
WSPA Wildlife Campaign Leader, Dr. Neil D’Cruze, said –
While in many ways we are pleased with the outcome of today’s meeting, WSPA continues to believe that minor improvements will not and cannot address the long term root cause of this suffering: green sea turtles are wild solitary animals that simply cannot adapt to life crammed into a farm with 9000 others. Now is the moment where we expect the Cayman Turtle Farm to start demonstrating a real and serious commitment to change. We will strive to continue to work with the Farm to identify a solution that has the best interests of these turtles at its heart. The Cayman Turtle Farm appear to have accepted that the sea turtles in their care do have health problems. This promising step is down to the strength of your voices, so thank you. However, this admission doesn’t go far enough for us though – sea turtles are still suffering, so we will keep up the fight.
Even Tanya Streeter, the free diving world champion (pictured on the right) joined WSPA to deliver the 144,000 strong petition to not just the farm’s management team, but also the Caymanian Government to put an end to sea turtle farming on the island. It just goes to show you if we all pull together and fight for the same cause, businesses and governments have no choice but to stand up and take notice of what is right and wrong.
If you would like to learn more about the work of WSPA, why not check out our dedicated charity page where you can make a donation to help provide much needed funds to aid their animal rights campaigns across the globe.
