The Last Days Of A Honu

Honu means "turtle" in Hawaiian, and this particular honu was beached at Kanaha Beach the same day I took the pics of the kiteboarders in my previous post.  Now, from my experience, I never see turtles on shore on Maui, and as far as I know, Green Sea turtles only come ashore rarely, and mostly to lay eggs.  Furthermore, Maui is not the prime nesting grounds for these gentle giants, which are the French Frigate Shoals located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands - 500 miles northwest of Maui.

So what is this honu doing on the beach?  Well, unfortunately, this turtle looked like it was dying - rather, it beached itself knowing it was going to die.  If you look at the following photos, pay attention to the areas of soft tissue around the mouth and neck of the turtle and you will see tumor-like growths.  These "warts" are the result of a virus which causes fibropapilloma tumors that shorten a turtle's lifespan considerably.  Scientists don't know what actually causes these growths, but the most common theory I've heard blames all the pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals that run-off golf courses and manicured landscapes, as well as leach from wastewater injection wells - all of which abound on Maui.

 The hard part was looking into the turtle's blinking eyes (the effect is multiplied peering through a telephoto lens) knowing that it wasn't dead yet, but on its way.  Somehow I wished I could just put it out of its misery, but they are "protected" after all.  I actually thought about calling the DLNR - Dept of Land and Natural Resources - but what in all reality could they have done?

For more info on the fibropapilloma disease: http://www.turtles.org/tumour.htm