enjoy tasty turtles - Grand Cayman

[justy]

from the turtles farm website


What do you do with all those turtles?
About 60% of each year's hatchlings are raised to 3 - 4 years of age to be processed for food that is sold locally (a national delicacy). Out of these, 1 to 2% are kept to become future breeders instead of food. The remaining 40% are released into the ocean when they are around one year old. This "headstarting" gives the turtles a better chance of survival.

enjoy tasty turtles

Actually i live in Cayman and have never eatern tutle please do not buy any turtle shells/products to take home they are not alowed to be taken into usa canada any Eu country (inc UK) and lots more

[grimmy]

Hi justy, please forgive me, but I am a little confused, mainly because of the title. Are you advocating the eating of turtles or discouraging the practice?

I was looking into going to the turtle farm until I saw that paragraph on their web site. I am a huge turtle fan, and it would break my heart to look at them knowing they are raised to eat.

On the other hand, in some cultures the eating of different species of animals, other than beef, chicken and pork are perfectly acceptable. So, I don't condemn, just don't participate.

Me and my husband will be on Grand Cayman in Sept. and are hoping to experience all of what your beautiful island has to offer.


Have a great day,
grimmy

[justy]

I don't realy have anything againts the farm its a lovley place and you won't see much about the food side there , i posted this because there were lots of people not aware of the farm's food side (guess thats why its called a farm) if the farm wasn't there then there would be far fewer turtles in the wild (they still release hundreds) also people would still "fish" them wild. I belive there are 20 licences tn Cayman for locals to fish the wild turtles see below for details of the licence
see http://www.seaturtle.org/mtrg/projec.../appd3.4.2.pdf
I have more objections to the wild capture and slaughter of these animals than the turtle farm. Especilly as the farm exsists what is the need to capture them?

just to throw 1 more thing in, there are plans for 2 dolphin swim experiances in
Cayman and i beleve the licences have already been issued (i think there were 4 licences in all though). This i do object to as lots of these dolphins are rounded up in the wild from mexico and then put into captivity to swim with paying tourists. I have dived on many occasions and if a dolphin happens to visit on a dive its a truly wonderfull experiance. way better tham 30 people linned up in a pool paying hundreds of dollars to touch a dolphin and have it drag you 20 - 30 yards around a pool.
By the way there are lots of local objections to these dolphin parks.

thanks and the title was for shock value what about this one!!!
Justy

[bluefish]

Well, it is called the Turtle Farm for a reason. Turtles are raise as a product, just like pigs or steers. Nothing wrong with that either taken in the context that it is a cultural value.