receipt oh la la vie de huevos is open
at radicchio
they found poachers with a turtle
poachers attacked the group to keep away
that gang their business was a South was
crying
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it's about 10:00 p.m. right now we're
going on patrol on the beaches here with
the conservationists it's kind of a
Finders Keepers game going on here
between them and the poachers whoever
gets the eggs first gets to do with them
what they want here in Costa Rica
there's a rivalry on the beach that goes
back over 50 years
between conservation is patrolling to
protect endangered sea turtle eggs and
poachers who aim to eat the eggs or sell
them on the local black market
magalie marion of the conservation group
latin american sea turtles leads the
patrol tonight for leatherbacks the
largest of the species it's clear we're
not alone on the beach
magalie gets an update from an earlier
patrol letting us know there are lots of
poachers out tonight
the ritual that went on at seven o'clock
so I asked him if he saw anything any
activity on the beach and there was a
lot of poachers so so far no turtle and
quite a lot butas i was just walking
around yeah poaching is illegal in Costa
Rica but sea turtles have long been part
of the culture and cuisine after about
an hour of searching we find a
leatherback sea turtle as it arrives on
shore she just came up and she's
starting to dig the buddy pits we're
just gonna make sure that we claiming
the turtle by putting a stick in the
track
so whenever poacher is coming he knows
that there's already somebody with the
turtle and he's not even gonna bother
he's just gonna pass and carry on and
that's it the conservationists who are
mostly foreign volunteers and
researchers are greatly outnumbered by
local poachers getting to an unclaimed
nest first means everything it seems
like there's almost a mutual respect
here that you and the poachers have for
each other on this particular beach yeah
definitely
by not confronting we're not
antagonizing so we keep the
communication we keep the dialogue open
during daytime those same people that
are sitting egg on the beach say hi hi
hi how are you good weather today you
recognize them you know them yeah
there's not much they can do for living
I can't really blame them you know they
need to eat like anyone that's not
walking over there mm-hmm
poacher probably yeah definitely there's
actually a poacher walking by right now
so if we were maybe 20 or 30 minutes
later than we were he would probably be
getting those eggs
magalie x' team prepares the nest to
bring back to their camp where they will
Ribery the eggs in a hatchery safely out
of reach from poachers
even with this effort only one in 1,000
will reach maturity
she's a big momma is she yeah a nest
like this can go for a hundred dollars
on the black market a significant prize
in rural areas like Pacuare without law
authorities around to enforce the ban on
poaching both groups rely on the
unspoken agreement of the beach Finders
Keepers to maintain the peace this
relationship is the status quo on most
beaches in Costa Rica which is why the
country was shocked when a local
conservationist was murdered in 2013
just miles down the coast from Pacuare
la foto de la parte de la fuerza pública
el guarda-costa de le monde converging
Tierra Verde para la muerte la playa des
moines en donde Cinco hombre souvenir
mug cuatro mujeres y el conservation in
stock arrow Morris on the wall a keen
assassin Aaron para heroin la su cuerpo
lalu Tsukiji me
Keiko Lucia the murder was a surprise
for a country known as a safe
eco-friendly tourist destination
volunteerism drops sharply the year
after the murder a blow to both the
reputation of Costa Rica and
conservation efforts which rely heavily
on foreign volunteers the incident also
cast doubt on the decades-long peaceful
relationship between conservationists
and poachers we went to meet with Carlos
a former poacher who is now employed by
the volunteer camping park la reine to
discuss why locals harvest eggs and what
has made the beach is more dangerous in
certain areas it's turtle poaching
turtle egg poaching is it something
that's been happening in this community
for for many years for many generations
does it does it go back a long time see
the casi toda la vie de huevos is oh
come on a tradition even aquí como como
vero where we are tomorrow where was
four-for-four comprar comida poor
necesidad pero yo Michael siente Sevilla
que era un da yo
a las tortugas yo se lo entiendo alguien
tamal iniciativa de ser un proyecto car
park where a Neto Marin para Sara me
a cola were re yo asset pay with
official por que la mayor parte de
personas no tienen Zawahiri echo hello
huevos poor poor man there otros 404 can
be ours for drogas pero hace mucho
Daniel s Tortugas sea turtles aren't the
only ones lured to Costa Rica's
untouched beaches in recent years the
same pristine coastlines and untouched
national parks enjoyed by wildlife and
tourists alike have also been the sights
of major drug busts and violent crime
when did the drug start playing such a
big role in this when did that sort of
happen was that recently see my men take
immoral skin say onions but what knowest
I'm feeling good also el problema es que
la gente que viene consumer drogas
algunos es esta muy muy mal de la cabeza
para noise sample across como es una
pelea muy es muy peligroso
porque iyx a sunnah carretera al imam al
imam bein a motor painted with peligrosa
a few hours along the coast from park
soiree is muy in beach a turtle nesting
hotspot and the site of Pyro's murder
it has reputation as one of the most
dangerous places in the country
we travel to the port city of Ramon
right near Moline Beach to follow the
illegal turtle trade to the streets
right into the market right now on the
Aman we're gonna see how easy it is to
buy turtle eggs out there it's actually
illegal to sell turtle eggs in Costa
Rica but the government doesn't really
enforce it and we're gonna go see how
lacks that enforcement is didier shot
Cowan is the director of the
latin-american sea turtle conservation
group and has dedicated over 25 years to
the protection and study of sea turtles
in Costa Rica he was also running the
conservation group or Jairo volunteered
prior to his murder
didier takes us around the moon where
illegal turtle products are for sale out
in the open
Russell it's so that's totally illegal
turtle shows ok
we soon head to a bar where turtle eggs
are usually sold in the corner of the
bar a man with a cooler casually sells
Setar legs to anyone willing to pay
Oh
you're okay I'm not reading the
conservation
I need so yeah
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sea turtle eggs are considered to be an
aphrodisiac which just adds to their
demand and popularity
[Music]
we just bought for endangered sea turtle
eggs Fitness bar within five
zero in some parts of the country
limited legal harvests are sanctioned by
the government in an effort to control
the black market but generations of
overharvesting and illegal trade have
led to a serious decline in all sea
turtle populations globally nearly all
are in danger we were able to buy total
products quite easily they were open for
sale yes I mean is that black market a
huge part of the reason why yes still
don't honor the government it's illegal
no yes illegal you have the source and
you have the market and many things in
between if you are strategic do major
your actions against poachers against
hunters and also in the market and in
between you is okay to inform the
society not just patrolling every night
it's hard to change a culture yes and
it's deeply rooted in our culture yeah
also yes yes but for the foreseeable
future
the turtle egg black market isn't going
away which means MA during the beach is
the only way to combat the illegal trade
because of the decline of volunteerism
Didier is one of the few people who
still patrols moya Beach
now Didier has to rely on private
contractors as well as the police for
the safety of his small conservation
crews the police he says need to be
called continuously for support as
poachers are not their first priority in
an area known for crime and drugs we
sought out the police commissioner of
Limone to ask him about his department's
role in curbing the rampant turtle egg
poaching there's lots of issues here on
this Beach with poachers with other
things and we know that sometimes the
police aren't really here that much I
mean are there regular patrols or other
active patrols really protecting the
turtles they just require enticing
Kooiman tenemos una tarea regular de
calais wanna tow a la no cheese Emmylou
gratin aromatic cuatro personas I can
estas wanna get some present our Salafi
Scalia's correspond ents we've heard you
know people describe the bat like
there's a battle here between
conservationists and poachers do you see
it that way or is it more is a kamar is
it more aggressive bueno Costa Rica Toa
la permanencia pan Tia no ha sido detect
a tenemos una Buena políticas de
prevención so she al qiyamah tagajo s
tephra hello yeah permit EOKA Costa
Rican Oscar no gravis or yar the name of
glucose allows caisson control ours when
a lady's gotta spoon it's a second Costa
Rica a lot of people are still scared to
come on this Beach um you know what do
you sell those people parte de la fuerza
public a Costa Rican de todos para que
venga a tratar de la mer Aviles que
tiene el NiO ambiente Costa defense a un
lugar en continuation de segura ha y Paz
para que pueda if you start o NSR
bejesus que esta es puesta del mundo
para evitar
while the police commissioner was
essentially telling us that everything
was safe Annoying beach Didier got a
disturbing message from one of his team
members
what does happens when we were in the
interview yeah our group comes out they
are looking for turtles and they found
poachers with a turtle poachers a tactic
group to keep away the seminar message
and I asked the Commissioner send a
patrol to here they find a group and now
poachers care but they are looking in
the poachers in the bush so as the
police commissioner was telling us that
the beach is safe the guys that were
trying to protect the turtles the
conservationists were attacked it's a
perception while the attackers were
still on the loose a security patrol car
ahead of us had driven into a trap
presumably sat by poachers so the the
poachers have made a trap for this car
it's stuck
we're trying to figure out how to get it
out right now oh wow yeah damn so they
dug this the poachers they made their
hole to they know they we used to this
is their try to come to the beach so
they dig a hole and they cover it what I
do they dig the hole and this is not
appear in the order they do this all the
time other night we have a tongue they'd
illegal the tree is the largest yeah
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I don't know how they can get this car
out
attacks like this are common annoying
Beach in fact Didier tells us that the
police are there more to protect
conservationists than to stop poaching
the night Harry was killed began with a
trap just like this Costa Rica de muerte
de una vez para Tortugas an anonymous
Theriot meters close Pretty Polly
sospechoso scanning phone is for
Aurora's comet Ella fiscal en el proceso
de cosas so you don't think hi rose
murder had to do with turtle poacher I
don't think that gang their business was
assault was crying it's complicated
because a lot of people have painted
different pictures of Jairo Genesis he
never hydro Motor City born in basically
just a religion with you okay be careful
ah yeah yeah
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