Over 100 carcasses of Olive Ridley turtles found in Odisha

Carcasses of over 100 Olive Ridley sea turtles have been spotted at Hukitola island off Paradip coast in Odisha, a forest department official said today.
The department had received reports of turtle carcasses being washed ashore, Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove Forest (Wildlife) Division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya said.
Several measures have been taken on a war footing to arrest the mortality rate ahead of the mass nesting of the endangered marine species, the DFO said.
Female turtles are expected to crawl into the beach for laying eggs en masse very shortly. The death of turtles at this stage does not augur well for mass nesting, said conservationist Bijoy Kumar Kabi.

Bodies of over 100 turtles with injury marks were spotted by tourists who visited the beach in the last few days, the official said.
The carcasses were spotted scattered along a one kilometre stretch on the shoreline.