I just received the following email from Dave the turtle guy. I’ve made some videos out at his eco lodge. Turns out saving turtles is pretty frustrating business.
“Sunday, Feb., 12, 2012
Sorry that this is not a personal note written to each of you, but I
don´t think that I have the energy or the stomach to write this more than once. This latest news
has made me physically sick, and it may prove to be the last straw that this old camel can carry.
As you may already know, my North American neighbor, who goes by the name ¨Johncho¨, has an ¨Eco Tourism¨ project that he calls Mono Feliz. For many years I have tried to get him to stop his dogs from killing sea turtles and digging up turtle nests I have also tried to stop him from serving endangered animals to his guests, and many other un ecological things that are against the law but he continues to do anyway. Johncho lives with a Panamanian woman named Luzmila, and Luzmila has a brother named ¨Chombito¨. When Chombito had to sell his house in order to return some of the money that he had stolen from the town of Beja Vista, Johncho and Luzmila moved
this thief into a shack on the beach. This may not have been so bad but he is also one of the last full time poachers of threatened and endangered animals that are still making a living by hunting the last of the animals in this area. When Chombito moved to the beach, last November 2011, He
became the biggest problem that I faced in trying to save sea turtle nests, and adult turtles. In December when his three teenage sons came to stay with him for school vacation, Chombito stayed in bed and sent his boys to poach the turtle nests. I would have liked to have been able to take their pictures while they were robbing the nests, but I walk with a flashlight and they were
always long gone by the time I found the empty nests. To solve this poaching problem, I would take a book and sit on the beach all night. This severely cut into Chombito´s egg selling business and his solution was to go to the police and make a false report that said I have been threatening his children and chasing then, taking their pictures and using foul language. The only time that I have taken their pictures was when they were here with their mother and all the other children from the Beja Vista School, to listen to me talk about saving the environment and to release baby sea turtles. The part about me chasing them and using foul language does not even deserve to be addressed, but the police inspectors say that these children need to be psychiatrically tested to
determine the extent of damage my abuse has caused them. According to my lawyer my only defense was to file my own police report and try to have him sent to jail for filing a false police report, this has already cost me more time and money than I can afford. But what may prove to be the last straw came last night when I learned that the Mono Feliz Clan, the same people that have
been giving me the most trouble and who have been responsible for killing tens of thousands of turtles in the years that I have been trying to save them, has asked the governmental authority (A.N.A.M.) for permission to start a turtle incubation project. This permission would allow them to take all the nests they could find and also give them an excuse to be on the beach all night where
they could also take the adult turtles. I am so tired of the lies, corruption, and complete lack of ethics and honor that I am seriously looking for a way out of here. I do not want to walk away from 12 years of my life´s work, or my life´s savings, and so, I will continue with my environmental projects, and entertain the youth groups that want to come and hear my seminars, but I do not
think I can continue for much longer without monetary help and recognition from some influential organizations. One man working alone is easy to ignore. If you know anyone with some clout please point them in my direction.
Tue., Feb., 12th. I have just learned that another of the poachers, a man that I have been trying to have arrested, has also applied for permission to start a turtle incubation project. This man´s name is Chano, and he is one of the five men that beat and robbed me when I was taking pictures of them shooting monkeys almost 4 years ago.
Still hanging on, but not by much………….Dave”
Notes
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