Rock the Tasba - Part 2
May 5th, 2008 by Jon
I was warned but I really didn’t expect to see it. I was caught somewhere between revulsion, sadness, and sympathy. The sad, anguished eyes looked back at me, both of us helpless to prevent what was to come. No, I’m not referring to a child living in poverty in Nicaragua. In front of me was a large adult sea turtle on its back waiting to be slaughtered.
The locals of Tasbapauni have been hunting turtles long before conservation was an issue. For the natives here, eating these large turtles is a way of life and it doesn’t cross their mind to do otherwise.
A nearby axe and a burning pile of garbage and wood
preludes the fate of the green sea turtle.
As the turtles come ashore off a boat, they are roped and dragged up the beachhead to a house. They would then be flipped onto their shell to keep them from escaping, and there they would lie for days, possibly weeks… kept barely alive by an occasional shower of water from a bucket. In Tasbapauni, refrigeration is costly and rare, so keeping the animal alive until it needs to be harvested is a natural way of keeping the meat from spoiling.
This was a very difficult photo for me to take
and I almost didn’t want to.
The turtle let out a moan that resembled a cough, lifted its tail and then urinated.
I had enough. I needed to get away from this and walked away with a heavy heart.
As much as I wanted to tell the locals that what they are doing is wrong, I knew that I couldn’t. My perception of what is right and wrong is different from theirs, and it wasn’t my place to impose my value system on them. So all I could do is take photos in hope that somehow the pictures can tell a story about a different world.
[ ... to be continued May 12, 2008 ... ]
Scorch marks from an open flame is a
chilling sign of the animal’s last moments.
Technorati Tags: Nicaragua, sea turtle, Tasbapauni, hunt, conservation
May 5th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Jon,
Your sensitivity is to be applauded. Its often difficult not to put our values on others and I am extremely impressed you are able to see the difference and also educate the world on realities that exist.
There is no easy solution to something like this as people are hungry and in a land where there is not enough to eat animals are often treated in ways that are painful for us to see. As I drive by the Butterball plant in Longmont CO and see the Turkeys packed in cages outside with their necks scrunched I feel just as sad (even though they are not endangered.) There is a conservation program on the west coast and somehow they have found a way to educate people (though the east coast is hurting more food)
Anyhow, I think your sensitivity demonstrated here is at least as valuable to the outsider as the actually issue as many I have seen visit Nicaragua are not that sensitive.
Blessings to you my friend.
Kathy
May 12th, 2008 at 10:43 am
[...] Rock the Tasba - Part 2 [...]
May 13th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
[...] Rock the Tasba - Part 2 [...]
June 28th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Hey Jon,
this was a difficult moment for me too…I had to turn my face away when I saw this as Sonia and another woman was bringing me around on the beach. I still sometimes see these images in my sleep. I agree that it is hard to watch, b/c what we see as wrong, to them it is basic instinct of survival, and if the roles were reversed, we’d probably do the same. These images bring tears and sorrow, but this experience to Nicaragua also showed me what another part of the world is like. I no longer live in a bubble.
Thanks for showing sharing these stories.
Bonbon.