A man in Malindi was arraigned at the Malindi Law Courts on Tuesday after he was found in possession of an endangered green sea turtle.
The arrest was a collaborative effort between the Ulinzi Africa Foundation, based in Tana Delta, community groups within Kapini and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in Malindi as well as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI's) Intelligence Department.
According to Abigael Cate, the Programme Manager at Local Ocean Conservation, the arrest aligns with the overall goal to protect endangered sea animals.
“We received a call yesterday evening to come and commence a rescue of a sea turtle that was essentially apprehended from the poacher,” she told journalists on Monday.
Upon recovery, the animal was taken for specialized treatment before it is presented in court on Wednesday as an exhibit .
“We took the sea turtle back to our rehabilitation centre where we have a turtle hospital for a medical examination and safekeeping to try and bring it back for court proceedings where the live animal will be used as evidence,” she stated.
Cate fired a warning to poachers who are out to capture endangered sea animals insisting such illegal practices will be met with full force of the law.
“We really hope that this sends a clear message to anyone that might consider breaking the law by putting such threatened and endangered species,” she asserted.
According to her, the arraignment is the classic example of how poachers can be deterred from posing a danger to the lives of endangered sea animals like the green sea turtle.
Poaching of protected species is illegal and offenders risk not only risk their own lives but risk a jail sentence as well.
She further revealed that the organisation will seek a certification to allow them to capture digital evidence to avoid subjecting the animals to the stress of being taken to court as evidence.
“We really want to avoid any additional stress on the sea turtles and so the situation like today is not ideal although we understand it is vital,” she explained.
“Under the Evidence Act, digital evidence is permissible and the certification is required. So we will apply for that certification just to enable us swifter action in releasing protected animals that are fit to do so or administering medical care if that is the appropriate action,” she hinted.
