Baby leatherback turtles die in their thousands in Trinidad blunder

Thousands of leatherback turtle eggs and hatchlings have been crushed by heavy machinery along a Trinidad beach widely regarded as the world's densest nesting area for the biggest of all living sea turtles, conservationists said on Monday.

TheGuardian

There is no conspiracy here so this is the forum I chose to put this in.

I am not concerned about the environment, or endangered species very much. But it irritates me when stuff like this happens through sheer carelessness and not being aware of your surroundings.

This was a completely avoidable accident, and here is the real kicker:

Government work crews with bulldozers were redirecting the Grand Riviere, a shifting river that was threatening a hotel where tourists from around the globe watch the huge endangered turtles lay their eggs.

Oh, the irony.

Apparently about 1 out of every 1,000 of these fellas makes it to adulthood. So if you want pictures or something, you should do it soon. Because I don't think these guys are going to be around much longer.

The irony of this story could come from the Onion.

I'm kind of surprised they lasted this long to be honest. Less than 1% of the eggs survive to adulthood and they lay their eggs on the same beach every time? Sure it's a wonder of nature, but not a very reliable system.

Upside is that they can live 100 years, so I'm sure there have been catastrophic losses before.