Netizens slam butcher for slaughtering, selling endangered sea turtle in south China

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The brutal killing of a leatherback turtle for its meat in the city of Zhanjiang, south China's Guangdong Province, has stirred Chinese social media after a video of the reptile being “carved up before being sold” was posted online.

The turtle, which weighed about 206 kilograms, was strapped to a vehicle and brought to shore, before being slaughtered, Zhanjiang Daily newspaper. Video of the turtle with blood spilled around it was later posted on social media.

The butcher “carved up the turtle with a sharp knife” and the scene of the killing was “bloody,” the newspaper report said. The turtle meat was sold out within two hours for 20,000 yuan (around 2,900 US dollars).

It is not clear if the turtle was still alive when butchered. So far the local authority hasn’t commented on the video or the related reports.

Leatherback turtles are the largest sea turtles and named for their leather-like shell. Although the distribution of the leatherback turtles worldwide is large, the species has seen a significant drop in numbers largely due to human hunting over the last century. International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the species as “vulnerable.”

China has granted the species a second-class conversation status, which means illegally killing and hunting these turtles constitute a criminal offense.

Chinese social media users were infuriated after the video, and its screenshots, surfaced online.

“The turtle may have lived longer than all of the people who ate it combined. How dare they eat it? Where is humanity?” said @Xinbaxiaoqiji on China's Twitter-like Weibo.

In Chinese culture, animals with a long life expectancy, or that have lived for a longer period, are often viewed as blessed – hurting them is considered sinful, as it would bring bad karma. But some people also believe that eating such animals have “healthy benefits,” though experts rebut such claim.

“What goes around comes around,” said @Yinli, another Weibo user. “They will pay for hurting the turtle.”

(Story written by Dean Yang)

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