KOTA KINABALU: Two dead turtles have been found in the Sabah west coast over the span of two days.
The Sabah Wildlife Department said it was alerted yesterday to the discovery of a female turtle, found dead at the Lok Kelia beach in Kota Belud, about a 90-minute drive from here.
Department director Augustine Tuuga said the team went to the scene after people shared the information on Twitter.
“Our checks showed that the probable cause of death was chronic respiratory problem as all respiratory tracts were severely haemorrhaged.
“No gastrointestinal tracts underwent significant changes although we did find some seaweed,” he said in a statement, adding the seaweed was a species grown for human consumption.
Based on the postmortem result, the 94cm-green turtle, aged in its 30's, might have visited one of those seaweed farms for her last meal.
Meanwhile, the department was alerted again to the discovery of yet another dead turtle, this time at Tanjung Lipat in Likas about 9am today.
Reports indicated that the turtle's shell had dried up and both its eyes appeared to be bleeding.
A witness, Mohd Razi Samsuddin, 16, said they saw the turtle's carcass, about half a meter long, floating in the sea around 7am before someone took it to the beach.