NC looking for information about sea turtle that died after being bludgeoned

Reward offered for information leading to arrest; fine could be $100,000

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries are seeking information leading to the arrest of the individual who bludgeoned a protected loggerhead sea turtle to death the last week of July.

The juvenile loggerhead, which weighted 70 pounds and was about 2 feet long, was found July 26 on the Portsmouth flats on North Core Banks by a ranger with the National Park Service. It died three days later from human-inflicted blunt force trauma to the brain, according to an autopsy performed by the N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine Center for Marine Science and Technology, who treated the turtle after it was discovered.

Sea turtles are on the federal and state Endangered Species lists, and killing one carries a felony punishable by a fine of up to $100,000. The N.C. Wildlife Federation. the Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina and a private individual have donated $7,500 in reward money for information leading to the arrest conviction of whoever killed the turtle.

A juvenile loggerhead sea turtle found July 26 on the Portsmouth flats of North Core Banks died from human inflicted blunt force trauma to the brain, concluded a post mortem report written last week by doctors at the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine Center for Marine Sciences and Technology.

The sea turtle, weighing about 70 pounds and a little over two feet in length, was alive when it was found by a National Park Service ranger. After treatment by doctors at the NCSU vet school, the loggerhead was stable on July 28 and transferred to the year-old Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center at the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island. The following morning, however, the turtle was unresponsive. It was given pain medicine and allowed to die, according to the report.

Both state and federal law enforcement agencies are investigating the malicious death of the loggerhead since all sea turtles are on the federal and state Endangered Species lists.  The crime is a felony punishable by a fine up to $100,000.  The N.C. Wildlife Federation, the Coastal Conservation Association of N.C., and a private individual have donated $7,500 as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed the turtle. Anyone with information should call the Commission’s toll-free hotline at 800-662-7137.

A copy of the autopsy obtained by CCA-NC said the turtle’s injuries could have been one to three weeks old. It said that there was no sign of the kinds of trauma that would have indicated that the turtle had been struck by a boat.

“It is difficult to devise a plausible explanation for the focus, shape and severity of the fractures other than an intentional malicious blow to the head with something like a hammer to a turtle that was not free-swimming at the time,” the autopsy stated.