This is the sickening moment a cruel fisherman sits on a sea turtle and rides the distressed animal along the deck of a ship
Eventually, the unnamed man picks it up and begins to stagger around the ship with the animal waving its front flippers around.
It is not yet clear exactly when the footage was taken but it is believed to have taken place in the seas off China.
The video has sparked outrage online after it was posted on Instagram.
‘This is just so hard for me to watch. How can human beings be so cruel?’ wrote one Instagram user.
‘The poor animal they don’t harm a soul – didn’t deserve that,’ wrote another under a version of the clip posted on Liveleak.
It comes after about 300 endangered sea turtles were found dead off the southern coast of Mexico on Tuesday, trapped in fishing nets, shortly after more than 100 dead turtles were recovered.
Fishermen in the southern state of Oaxaca discovered the turtles in the seaside community of Barra de Colotepec, said Heliodoro Diaz, the coordinator of the state’s civil protection agency.
Images captured by a Reuters videographer showed dozens of dead turtles, many beginning to decompose, caught in what appeared to be a net.
The olive ridley turtles, which Mexican authorities say are at risk of extinction, measure about 29.5 ins in length and weigh some 99 pounds.
From May to September, they descend on various Mexican states along the Pacific Ocean to lay their eggs.
Mexico, which is home to six of the world’s seven species of sea turtles, has a permanent program to protect the reptiles, including criminal penalties for those who kill them.
The office of the federal attorney for environmental protection (PROFEPA) said it would investigate the case.
Earlier this month, authorities said they were investigating the deaths of 113 sea turtles at risk of extinction – 102 olive ridley turtles, six hawksbill, and five belonging to the green turtle species – in a sanctuary in the southern state of Chiapas.
Experts said asphyxiation, fish hooks or harmful algae could have killed the turtles, but the cause is still being investigated, PROFEPA said.
Source: DailyMail
Got a story for us? Need to tell us about something amazing you’ve seen or done? Want us to investigate something? Get in touch!