Nature and Parks Authority representatives handle a sea turtle after it was attacked and abused on a beach, 2009 (Courtesy Nature and Parks Authority)
The Netanya Magistrate’s Court on Monday sentenced a man to 10 months in prison for abusing and causing the death of a sea turtle, in one of the most severe punishments for animal abuse in the nation’s history.
Dmitry Kendler was accused of shoving a sharpened stick into the neck of the female turtle during the 2009 incident, while camping at Hasharon beach. The attack crushed the turtle’s spine and caused it severe hemorrhaging.
Nature and Parks Authority rangers who found the turtle the next day in serious condition had no choice but to put it down.
The animal was of a rare endangered breed of green sea turtle, and had come ashore to lay eggs when it was assaulted.
The pregnant female was found to be carrying 93 eggs in its belly. An effort was made to save the eggs, but only one eventually hatched and was released to sea.
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A sea turtle that was attacked and abused on a beach, 2009 (Courtesy Nature and Parks Authority)
The trial took almost a decade, as Kendler only confessed in 2013, and later drew out and evaded court deliberations.
Kendler told investigators his dog had been barking at the turtle, making it difficult for him to sleep.
The judge ruled that “the defendant’s actions were ones of wanton cruelty,” Haaretz reported on Monday, and ruled that he must spend 10 months in jail and pay a fine of NIS 10,000.
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Sea turtles come ashore in to lay their eggs in several locations along Israel’s coastline. Both loggerhead and green sea turtles populate the Mediterranean Sea, with both varieties laying their eggs along the Israeli coast.
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