Allegedly, Cozumel City Hall employees profit from stolen specimens.
The National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp) is investigating the removal of turtle hatchlings from Campo Torguero by employees of the Cozumel City Council to present a liberation show for which they are paid in US dollars.
The camp is located on the beaches of the eastern zone, and the hatchlings are taken to a distant hotel from where they hatched, with the purpose of releasing them in the presence of national and foreign tourists, who pay tickets in US dollars to participate in the supposed event to protect the turtles, which is prohibited by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa).
Therefore, workers from the department in charge of Cristhoper Baca, are documenting the actions carried out by an employee of the Recyclable Materials Collection Center (Camar), authorized by the Municipal Ecology Department, in charge of Elsa Torres Arcila, to carry out this demonstration in a lodging center on the southern highway of the island, and once the evidence is available, it will be sent to Profepa, since, according to researchers, baby turtles cannot be taken out of the area where they hatched to release them, since they lose their natural orientation and run the risk of not returning to the Cozumel coasts for their reproductive process when they are adults.
In recent days, it was reported that due to the lack of surveillance by municipal workers, there is a serious depredation of turtle nests on the beaches of the eastern zone, especially in the area called “Mezcalitos.”
TYT Newsroom
