The Beacon  Sea Turtle Environmentalist Suspected Murdered by
Poachers    Vanessa Lizano, the owner of the turtle sanctuary
where Mora Sandoval worked, told the BBC that the 26-year old
had been killed because of his work. “Jairo went on patrol with
some volunteers and they were attacked by armed men. It was him
they wanted, because he was the one who was always looking after
the nests.” Lizano told the BBC that poachers in Costa Rica can
make up to $300 per day smuggling turtle eggs and selling them
for $1 each, often to drug dealers, on the black market. Lizano
said that employees had received many threats over the years due
to their work at the sanctuary.  Costa Rica’s beaches are home
to the nesting sites of four species of sea turtles,
leatherback, hawksbill, Olive Ridley, and green sea turtles, all
of which are endangered. It has been illegal to remove turtle
eggs from beaches in Costa Rica since 1996, yet egg poaching is
actually up 30 percent since the law was put in place, Beth
Adubato, New York Inst