Now, a dead, partially decomposed turtle found on Aksa beach

A dead and partially decomposed turtle was found washed ashore on the Aksa beach on Tuesday morning. In the last six days, this is the second turtle to be found dead, along with one finless porpoise, which was found washed ashore at Juhu beach. Before this, on August 5 and August 7, two turtles, both with two flippers missing, were rescued from Ghodbunder and Juhu, respectively.

"A lifeguard from Aksa beach alerted me about the turtle that was partially decomposed and looked like an old carcass. We alerted the Mangrove Cell staff and they buried it," said Ankit Vyas, an animal rescuer.

Meanwhile, Juhu resident Reagan Creado informed that a regular evening walker, who is a resident of Juhu village, on Monday, had informed him about a carcass of finless porpoise washed up on the beach side opposite to Nippon building, five days ago. As per marine experts, porpoises are often mistaken to be dolphins, but these have smaller mouths and just like whales and dolphins fall under protected under Schedule I category of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

"He shared some images with me and it appeared to have no injury, but I was told that some locals buried it nearby and no one informed the Mangrove Cell as it might have been a good specimen to carry out the post mortem," informed Creado.

Even as activists and animal lovers have been raising concerns about the high number of beachings of marine mammals, marine experts said that while there can be many reasons cited, including natural deaths, but it also needs to be understood that due to more awareness, every beaching is being reported.

"It's difficult to point out any specific reason without a detailed post-mortem, but some of the most common factors that affect marine mammals are pollution, due to waste and sewage being released in the sea, injuries after being either stuck in nets or being hit by ships, oil spills and others," said a marine biologist.