Villagers Land In Trouble After Selling The Meat Of A Giant Endangered Turtle. Photos

Six villagers in Zhanjiang’s Xuwen County, China -have been charged with selling the meat of a giant leatherback turtle, after a video showing them butchering the protected animal was widely spread on social media.

Three of the six villagers caught the giant turtle on December 6 and sold it for 4000 yuan (580 USD) to three other people, who later sold it on to other villagers for 140 yuan (20 USD) per kilo. They claimed that the turtle, reportedly weighing 208 kilograms, had already died when it was caught.

The leatherback turtle is listed as a national protected species in China, and is critically endangered according to the World Wildlife Fund, with only 20-30,000 nesting females left in the wild.

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