This Turtle Tourist Center Also Raises Endangered Turtles for Meat

Animal advocates accuse the Cayman Turtle Centre of mistreating its sea turtles and stoking demand for the meat of an endangered species, claims it denies.

At the Cayman Turtle Centre tourists can kiss, hug, and pass around young sea turtles. They can even take a swim with bigger ones if they want. It’s billed as a rare opportunity to come into contact with endangered green sea turtles, a migratory species whose numbers are on the decline because of egg poaching, habitat degradation, and entanglement with fishing nets.

What many visitors don’t realize is that it’s also a sea turtle farm, where the rare turtles are bred in captivity to be killed for their meat, a traditional dish in the Caymans.

But the meat business is only part of the reason this government-owned facility is facing criticism from animal protection organizations. It’s also the way the

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