Tourists filmed Chlorakas Community Council employees repeatedly throwing a sea turtle to the ground and kicking it on a beach today, prompting a police investigation and necropsy to determine how the animal died.
The footage shows four men handling the turtle, with one hurling it to the ground multiple times and at one point kicking it, whilst another photographs the incident on a mobile phone.
Community Council sources told Phileleftheros the turtle was already dead when employees were called to collect and bury it, as typically happens with dead animals. The workers claim they threw it on the ground to clean off sand.
Animal Police responded to a complaint and examined the scene. The Fisheries Department was contacted by the Community Council around 14:30, and an official who inspected the body at the council warehouse judged it was dead and in advanced decomposition.
Police collected the carcass for necropsy to establish the time and cause of death.
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