Mumbai: Bandra residents Roy and Penny Fonseca like their morning walks, and living, as they do, close to the Bandstand area, that’s where they go every day. On Monday morning, around 8 a.m., Mr. Fonseca spotted a marine creature stuck on the rocks. He clambered down to take a closer look. It was a turtle, and it seemed to be alive, but barely.
The Fonsecas love wildlife, and they knew they should not interfere with a wild creature, but they were worried that the turtle would die, or be attacked by dogs or crows. So he took a picture on his cellphone and sent it to his children, also nature lovers, and a few friends, to ask for advice on what to do.
His daughter, Priya, who is a scuba enthusiast, thought it looked like a Green Turtle, which she had seen on dives. But, she said, the species isn’t known to be a regular in these waters as far as she knew, so she wasn’t sure. She sent the pictures to people she knew in environment and conservation circles, but got no immediate answer.
Mr. Fonseca, who had been saddened to see a dead dolphin around the same spot some months ago, and a sea snake two days earlier, decided that he would at least give the animal a bit of a chance, so he carried it out to deeper water. He walked back up to the promenade, but kept an eye on the water. A little later, he saw the turtle being washed back onto the rocks, and it wasn’t making any movements at all. He assumed that it must have died, and he and his wife walked back home, their morning cheer dampened.
Later, in the afternoon, the environmentalist Anand Pendharkar called; he was one of the people the younger Ms. Fonseca had asked for advice. He agreed with her guess on the species, but asked if they could possibly go back and take a few more photographs to be sure.
The Fonsecas put on their walking shoes and went back to find that the animal was where they had last seen it, and its corpse was being attacked by crows. They went close to it, and took the pictures Mr. Pendharkar asked for. He remembered that the viewer would need a sense of the size of the turtle; he wasn’t carrying a measuring scale or tape, so he took off a shoe and placed it besides the animal for a scale reference. Mr. Pendharkar confirmed that it was indeed a Green Turtle, a rare sighting. He said that he informed the Forest Department officials, who would take it from there. He hoped that if it was a female, and had been making its way to shore to nest, that it might have eggs that could be saved.
When The Hindu spoke to N. Vasudevan, Regional Principal Conservator of Forests, on Monday evening, he said that his team had not been able to retrieve the carcass yet. But from the size, he said, it was a juvenile, so would not have eggs, and besides it is not the breeding season.
Mr. Vasudevan said that the department had only got the information after the animal had died. He advises citizens spotting beached animals not to put them back in the water, as if they are injured, possibly from being entangled in fishing nets, as he theorises that this turtle was, they might be weakened by the struggle and would surely die in the sea. Instead, they should call the Forest Department — (+91-22) 25220097 — immediately, and the animal might be saved.
The Fonsecas meanwhile, noticed that as is all too common in public spaces, people around them were littering, throwing plastic bags into the water. “Penny and I gave them a small lecture,” Mr. Fonseca said. “We told them, this is what happens when you throw your garbage into the sea. We must have got through to some of them at least, because they began picking up plastic from around them and putting it into dustbins!”
