Green Turtles in Distress

Turtles are always popular here on Maui. There is a great collection of green turtle photos taken near the sunken sports platform near the Mala Wharf. Check them out in the Search section.

There are also a number of photos of green sea turtles that have large tumours. These tumours are caused by the fibropappiloma virus in conjunction with a number of other forcing agents and environmental factors that are not completely understood. What is understood is that the disease is debilitating and clearly causes extreme pain, discomfort and death for many of the turtles that contract this disease. It is impossible to view the images of these infected turtles without feeling great sadness.

You can learn more about this at http://www.turtles.org/sickbay.htm