The most unusual of thefts ever to take place in any of Costa Rica’s National Parks has authorities on the lookout for illegal underground turtle merchants.
The Cano Negro National Park is one of Costa Rica’s most remote and off the beaten path national parks. Just to reach the park is an adventure itself as visitors must drive up unpaved back roads with the help of 4WD vehicles.
Researchers and scientists frequently visit Cano Negro due to its amazing variety of bird species from North and South America as well as reptiles and mammals.
Apparently, researches were carrying out an investigation with a certain turtle species and had around 20,000 at the park. The park ranger woke up only to find that they had been robbed of 2,300 baby turtles.
Authorities believe that the robbery took place after 10pm once the park ranger had finished his daily duties. The Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy stepped in along with the help of the park’s board to carry out a thorough investigation.
Local police authorities suspect that the turtles were stolen in order to sell them to businesses which sell these turtles as pets. Finding the person or people responsible behind this theft could be quite simple as for hiding over 2,000 turtles is not an easy task.
August 10th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
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