Divers swimming near the remote island of Kokoya, Indonesia, recently made a shocking discovery. Twodugongs, which are sea creatures from the manatee family, were found chained up inside underwater cages two weeks ago.
Source : @rmahendradani
A local fisherman had trapped them there as a tourist attraction."He asked for some money if we wanted to see the dugong or take a picture", explainedLim, one of the divers, toThe Dodo.The pair of sea creatures seemed to be a mother and her calf, and the two of them were separated in their own cages.No one knows how long the poor creatures had been trapped there for. Judging by the deep cuts made from the rope that was fastenedaround the mother's tail, their torture had probably lasted a few months.
A video posted by Ryandito Mahendradani (@rmahendradani) on Mar 13, 2016 at 12:28am PST
Lim and his friend tried to convince the fisherman to free them, explaining that they were an endangered species and what he was doing was completely illegal."When we left the island, the fisherman agreed to release them... But since we were not so convinced he would, I posted the video to social media," said Lin.
Source : @GaluhRiyadi
And very soon,wildlife protectionauthoritiestook matters into their own hands and contacted the two divers to find out the exact location of the poor creatures.The next day, a team of rescuers hurried to the island to find the two sea mammals in exactly the same state, trapped and suffering unimaginably.Within a few minutes,they had freed the poor creatures.
Source : @Pangkalan
The mother and her calf are now free in the open sea, and they seem to be in good health.
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