Juvenile Hawksbill Dead at Hilton Lagoon

 5/11/2022

A call came in from the Hilton Beach concession group that a guest had reported a dead turtle in the lagoon area of the Hilton Waikoloa Hotel.  Chad, working at the Beach Hut, was able to retrieve the turtle and Marc Rice drove down to pick it up.  The turtle turned out to be a juvenile hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) measuring 34 cm curved carapace length.  It had severe wounds in the throat area but we don't know if this occurred pre or post mortem.  

My suspicion is that this is the work of a monk seal (once again) and that the injuries caused the death of this hawksbill.

Below are pictures of the little turtle.  It is very sad to lose a critically endangered hawksbill turtle like this.

Pictures of the turtle and the wound are shown below;