Man Buys Turtles Only to Release Them at Sea

While searching for crabs last Saturday along the Suva foreshore, Jone Tanuku and his employer Jason Yang Guangxin met a young boy who discreetly told them he had a pair of live turtles for sale.

After some negotiation, Mr Guangxin parted with $100 for both turtles.

Mr Tanuku’s fears about the turtles’ future was allayed when his boss told him he only bought the turtles because one of them had an injured fin.

Mr Guangxin said he intended to treat the injured turtle and return them to the ocean, their rightful home.

“The turtle’s fin was bleeding a lot but now, as you can see, his fin is healing, it’s quite strong,” said an overjoyed Mr Tanuku.

His boss had treated the turtle’s injured fin which had been bleeding profusely, bandaged it and kept it in his store over the weekend waiting for a boat that could take them out to sea.

“If we let them go close to shore, turtles have a tendency to come back to us.

“That’s why we’ve hired a boat to take us out to sea. If we let them go in open sea, they’re home.

“If it were someone else who had bought the turtles, I don’t think they would have showed the turtles the same mercy.”

Mr Guangxin is the owner of Fukumi Company Ltd on Usher St, Suva, a little store which sells an assortment of goods from China.

(Source: Fiji Times news 09 December 2020)