People gather around to witness the old turtle in hopes of gleaning
lottery numbers.
Theerarak
Suthathiwong
A dead turtle that washed ashore on Jomtien Beach
drew a crowd of Thais not interested as much as what happened to the
endangered animal but what lottery numbers they might glean from its
corpse.
Sawang Boriboon animal control officers responded
to the beach opposite the Palm Beach Hotel Aug. 31 to inspect and
haul away the 70 kg. body of a green turtle between 20 and 30 years
old.
The animal had sustained a head wound and been
dead about two days before washing ashore.
Beach vendor Surasak Suphabut, 38, called
authorities after a foreign tourist alerted him to the turtle.
By the time officers arrived, a crowd of Thais
had huddled around the corpse, studying its placement and shell for
“lucky” numbers that could help them in the following day’s lottery.
