In this image provided by the Papa Bois Conservation on Tuesday, July 10, 2012, a Ministry of Works employee operates a bulldozer next to destroyed leatherback turtle eggs and hatchlings on the banks of the Grande Riviere Beach in Trinidad. Thousands of leatherback turtle eggs and hatchlings have been crushed by heavy machinery along a Trinidad beach widely regarded as the world's densest nesting area for the biggest of all living sea turtles, conservationists said Monday. Government work crews with bulldozers were redirecting the Grand Riviere, a shifting river that was threatening a hotel where tourists from around the globe watch the huge endangered turtles lay their eggs. (AP Photo/Papa Bois Conservation,Marc de Verteuil)
July 10, 2012 - 3:06 PM
KINGSTON, Jamaica - A conservation group in Trinidad & Tobago is calling for an investigation into how government work crews crushed leatherback turtle eggs and hatchlings on a prime nesting beach.
The endangered species' eggs and hatchlings were crushed by heavy machinery as workers redirected a shifting river over the weekend.
Trinidad's Papa Bois Conservation group says the government allowed the crew to operate "without any qualified supervision" on the ecologically sensitive Grand Riviere beach where the massive turtles nest.
The group said Tuesday it is "important to investigate how this was allowed to happen and to find a solution so this won't reoccur in the future."
A Tuesday call to the CEO of Trinidad's Environmental Management Authority rang unanswered.
Local conservationists say they saw thousands of crushed leatherback eggs on the beach.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012