The painful case of a Morrocoy turtle that arrived at the Wildlife Care Center (CAVR) of the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area has become a stark portrait of cruelty and ignorance in illegal wildlife trafficking.
The reptile, which was kept as a ‘pet’ in captivity for 30 years, entered the center with permanent consequences: depigmented skin, extremely weakened muscles, and most seriously, bones so deformed that it had a fracture.
According to biologists and veterinarians from the Metropolitan Area, the sorry state of the Morrocoy turtle is the result of decades of neglect: lack of natural light, lack of adequate space to move around, and a completely inadequate diet.
These factors slowly and painfully collapsed his body, causing deformations such as painful “pyramidism”, an incurable disease where the shell grows rapidly in the shape of pyramids, caused by the imbalance of calcium and vitamin D due to the lack of ultraviolet rays.
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The seriousness of the situation is not isolated. Since 2024, the CAVR has received more than 1,900 morrocoy turtles, a species whose natural distribution in Colombia is limited to regions such as the Eastern Plains and the Caribbean, and which is not native to the Aburrá Valley.
Their presence in the region is due exclusively to the absurd practices of illegal trafficking and their use as pets, practices that have brought this species to the brink of extinction.
The authorities of the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area reiterate the importance of reporting wildlife trafficking.
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