11 July, 2012: It says a lot both about conservation issues and the way Twitter can turn up the heat on a story as the tale of the Trinidadian leatherback turtles has developed in the last 24 hours.

 

What started at the weekend as a mistake by bulldozers on Trinidad’s northern coastal Grand Riviere area has become a major green issue on the world’s social media platforms.

 

The facts are simple: government work crews redirecting the river accidently destroyed what environmentalists say were around 20,000 leatherback turtle eggs and hatchlings.

 

The story received some little attention on Monday and early Tuesday.

 

By the time international media houses turned their eyes to the story, environmental groups around the world had turned their anger on Trinidad.

 

The succinct nature of Twitter with its 140-character-only rule emphasized the anger.

 

“Babyback turtles die in their thousands in Trinidad blunder,” said one person on Twitter.

 

“Whichever way the Trinidad authorities spin this story, this is gross incompetence and a tragedy for leatherback turtles,” tweeted Blue Planet Society.

 

Local conservation group, Papa Bois, looked at where blame should be apportioned: “the work was done without supervision by "any of the local turtle protection groups.

 

Papa Bois added that the blame should fall on those "higher up" who told the crews where to work -- "not one of whom was on site to make sure the works were done with as little damage as possible.”

 

 "There was no coordination, no leadership."

 

Trinidadian authorities have moved to deal with the issue.

 

Tourism Minister Stephen Cadiz visited the site on Tuesday and stated that “this must never happen again”