COX’S BAZAR (Bangladesh): Volunteers and animal experts combed beaches along Bangladesh’s southern coast on Wednesday to catch and kill wild dogs that threaten endangered sea turtles, government conservation officials said.

Dozens of threatened Olive Ridley turtles that usually swim ashore to lay eggs on beaches have been found dead along the country’s southern coast in recent weeks, the officials said.

In addition to pollution and the use of illegal fishing nets near the shore, stray dogs and wild foxes are responsible for destroying eggs and killing the dwindling turtle species in Cox’s Bazar district, said M A Hannan, a wildlife conservation officer from the Department of Environment.

At least 50 turtles — 25 last week alone — have been found dead so far this breeding season along the sandy Cox’s Bazar coast, about 300km south of Dhaka, Hannan said.

Hundreds of turtles, which usually inhabit the deep seas, come ashore to lay and bury their eggs in the sand from September to March. Their popular nesting grounds along the Bay of Bengal are declared protected areas in Bangladesh and India.

But sometimes the turtles — which weigh 40-60kg each _ get tangled in fine fishing nets cast near the shore, or are mauled by packs of dogs or foxes, which also eat the eggs and hatchlings.

Five spots along the 100km Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf beach, and the offshore islands of Sonadia and St Martin’s, have been earmarked for the wild dog extermination operation, officials said.

“We will only kill stray dogs which have been living in the wild and harming the turtles,” said Dr Faruk Ahmed, an official from the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry.

The wild dogs destroy freshly laid eggs in the sand and also break into nearby hatcheries where the eggs are taken for protection, he added.

On Wednesday, local volunteers — supervised by dogcatchers brought from the capital — caught strays with long hooks and injected them with poison. The carcasses were then buried in holes dug in the sand.

At least 300 wild dogs were earlier identified for extermination, said Munshi Nurul Haq, a scientific officer from the Livestock Ministry.

There was no immediate response to the operation from pet owners or animal lovers in the area.

Olive Ridleys, the smallest of all sea turtles, are endangered worldwide, Hannan said.

Last year, several hundred turtles died along the same coast, officials said.

The Bangladesh government has launched a conservation project with the help of the United Nations Development Program to protect turtle eggs on beaches. The eggs are incubated in safe places, and the hatchlings are released back into the sea.

“We have already collected more than 1,500 eggs for breeding this year,” Hannan said.—AP