Green sea turtle euthanized after injury
LIHUE » A green sea turtle found with two broken front flippers on a Kauai beach has been euthanized.
The Garden Island reports the 80-pound animal was found Sunday night in the Pali Ke Kua area.
X-rays determined that monofilament net had cut through scales, muscle and bone.
Sea turtles get all of their locomotion from front flippers. Kauai District Fisheries biologist Don Heacock says the animal was unable to move and there was no way for it to heal.
The carcass will be frozen and sent to the National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu for a necropsy.
Heacock says gillnet entanglement is an ongoing problem and that making nets from natural fiber such as cotton or hemp would lessen the amount of "ghost fishing" from lost gear.