By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com
 
Thousands of leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and eggs were crushed over the weekend by bulldozers and excavators used to divert a river on the Caribbean island of Trinidad.

“Unfortunately the engineers in charge bulldozed a far greater portion of beach than necessary, and they did destroy many viable nests,” the Papa Bois Conservation group posted on its Facebook page.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much of an impact the tragedy would have on the critically endangered species, but the group noted that it happened on “the world’s most densely populated leatherback nesting beach.”
Papa Bois said it wasn’t opposed to diverting the river, since it had been eroding not only a local eco-tourist hotel but the nesting area itself. But it noted that the work was done without supervision by “any of the local turtle protection groups.”
It also didn’t blame the equipment operators, but those “higher up” who told the crews where to …