The turtle hunting on Panubulon Island
Media
Part of The Young Citizen: The Magazine for Young People
- Title
- The turtle hunting on Panubulon Island
- Year
- 1939
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 106 THE YOUNG CITIZEN March, 1989 Turtle Hunting on Panubulon Island By MRS. FELICIDAD G. FERNANDEZ ABOUT three miles from Tacloba~, the capital of Leyte, hes a coral ISiand called Panubulon. It is about two and a half h~ctares in area. The island is a refv.ge for small sail-boats during bad weather. Some five hundred coconut trees .are growing on the island. To the shore of the island hundreds of turtles come, especially .at night, and for this reason people come to secure as many of th~se prizes as possible. A turtle-catcher tries to capture a turtle by turning it over on its back. The turtle is so strong that a man may be drngged to the water if he holds to the turtle. But once the catcher succeeds in putting the creature on its back, he has secured a prize, for the turtle's meat, as well as the shell, are both salable. During the egg-laying season, the catchers watch for the turtles-not to catch tbem then but to find out where they lay their eggs. The female turtle digs a hole in the upper part of the beach not reached by the water even at high tide, and there lays her eggs. After laying them, she covers them and goes back to the water at day-break, to return again the next evening. She continues this procedure for about a week. Then it is time for the egg-hunters to dig for the t!ggs. The egg is round arid white, and looks like a ping-pong ball. The only difference is that it is soft. The turtle's egg is delicious and can be eaten either raw or cooked. Some hunters leave the eggs until they are hatched. The hatching takes place after two weeks. The baby turtles, smaller in 8ize than a fifty-centavo piece,. crawl to the · sea. The small turtles live on the very small pieces of weeds floating on the water. The hunters catch the small turtles and plac·e them in jars or tanks filled with salt water in order to grow them for market. They feed them with very small particles of green coconut husk, and later with small fish. After .a year they are big enough for the market. Once I placed a baby turtle in fresh water and gave it bread and rice instead of its usual food. The turtle lived for more tlian two years until it became so large that it was necessary to dispose of it. Perhaps r.aising turtles for the market would be a paying proposition for Filipino school boys.