By Mohammed Zaatari| The Daily Star
A dead sea turtle believed to be more than 50 years old washed up on a south Lebanon beach Thursday, after apparently choking on plastic grocery bags it mistook for jellyfish.
The turtle was discovered by a group of young men while exercising on the beach, sources in Tyre told The Daily Star.
Environmentalist Mohammad al-Sariji said it was not the first time that dead sea turtles were washed to the shore in the area which lies close to a protected turtle reserve in Mansouri, south of Tyre.
“It is common knowledge that sea turtles feed on jellyfish and they sometime swallow plastic bags which they mistake for food, and eventually choke to death,” Sariji said.
Lebanon has badly polluted shores, especially near urban areas where sewers drains lead to the sea, including Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli and Tyre.
Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
