DENPASAR, Bali (JP): He was huge, the biggest and probably the oldest male green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in the group

He slowly lifted his head and sniffed the salty ocean breeze of Sanur beach. His body, exhausted by many days without food and water, not to mention the trauma of watching his kin being slaughtered around him, seemed rejuvenated by the splashing of waves on his back.

"They definitely look happier than yesterday, when they were still kept in the holding pens of the turtle slaughterhouse," Bali Police Special Crimes unit Adjutant Senior Commissioner Gede Artawan said on Wednesday morning.

"They only moved a little then, but now, at the sight of the wide blue ocean, all of sudden they are moving a lot, wriggling, lifting their heads, moving their limbs. They must be aware of the fact that they are going to be free again."

He was standing a few meters from dozens of riot police officers, all of them barefooted, and not one of them carrying rattan sticks, tear-gas canisters or police shields. Instead, they were busy hauling 126 turtles from police trucks into two traditional jukung boats.

Several minutes later, in the middle of the ocean, those officers cut the plastic ropes that had bound the turtles for many days, and let them plunge into the ocean. The turtles swam in slow movements, as if relishing the newly regained freedom, before diving deep into the sea.

The turtles were confiscated a day earlier in a police raid at a turtle slaughterhouse some 50 meters west of the Ngurah Rai Highway on the eastern outskirts of Denpasar city. The slaughterhouse, in operation for almost 30 years, belonged to turtle meat vendor I Made Kodi, 67, and was managed by his nephew I Wayan Widnyana.

In the house the officers found some 130 turtles kept in squalor in two holding pens. One of the holding pens was equipped with three elevated concrete structures, where an average of two turtles was butchered every day. Open squares pit, full of turtle bones, were next to them.

"I bought the turtles, at prices ranging from Rp 200,000 to Rp 350,000, from poachers in Tanjung Benoa village," Kodi said during the raid. "The turtle meat is cooked into various traditional Balinese delicacies. A complete portion of the delicacies sells for about around Rp 30,000 each, and we can make 30 complete portions out of a single turtle."

A spacious kitchen was situated next to the main house, with three women busy boiling ingredients and spices in two huge aluminum pots that were mounted on a big burning hearth.

After a brief argument, Kodi and his workers let the officers seize all the turtles, moved them into trucks and transported them to Bali Police Headquarters. Three turtles later died in police custody, while one is being kept as state' evidence.

"The raid of the slaughterhouse and the release of the confiscated turtles is our way to show our commitment in enforcing Law No. 5 1990, and Government Decree No. 7 1999 on Natural Resources Protection and Conservation. Both the law and the decree stipulate that poaching, trading and slaughtering of turtles are illegal," Gede Artawan said.

Tarnished image

The turtle industry has long tarnished Bali's image abroad. The local government and law enforcement agents have essentially turned a blind eye to exploitation of the animal, fearing that enforcing the law might cause a backlash from the hundreds of turtle poachers and dealers.

Turtle dealers have for years justified the island's high turtle consumption rate -- sometimes reaching more than 20,000 turtles per year -- by claiming that turtle meat was traditionally part of religious rituals and traditional festivals. Bali-based NGOs, most notably the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Wallacea Bioregion, with the help of few Hindu high priests, launched campaigns refuting the argument.

"Hindu religious rituals, by and large, only need 500 turtles per year. The fact is most of the turtles are slaughtered only to feed Balinese's need for turtle-based traditional delicacies, served at traditional parties," high priest Ida Pedanda Gde Ngurah Kaleran said.

And with growing support from local NGOs and the Hindu clerical council of Parisada, and bolstered by increasing international pressure -- including the threat of a tourist boycott -- the Bali Administration and Bali Police have no choice but to face up to the poachers.

"We highly appreciate the police and government's efforts in enforcing the law. But we should not save the turtles and at the same time neglect the well-being of our people. We have to immediately find alternatives jobs or income source for all these poachers, dealers, slaughterers and meat vendors," WWF Wallacea Bioregion Turtle Campaign leader Windia Adnyana said.

Initial efforts have been made by WWF Wallacea Bioregion to approach local tourism industry's executives in implementing turtle-based ecotourism. Meanwhile, the people of Tanjung Benoa, a village some 30 kilometers south of here, where hundreds of turtle poachers reside, have also come up with a plan to build a turtle park and hatchery.

"These options should be wisely studied by the government as alternatives solutions to the current infamous turtle industry," Adnyana said.

A recent survey by Institute for Information and Development Studies shows the turtle industry is the main source of income for at least 300 households in Tanjung Benoa alone. An earlier survey by Malang-based NGO Animal Conservation for Life (KSBK) showed that in Denpasar and Badung regencies there were 11 big slaughterhouses and 32 turtle meat vendors.

"Finding alternative income sources for poachers, dealers, and vendors, is, in my humble opinion, one of the most critical factors in our struggle to protect and conserve the turtles," Windia Adnyana said.