From Stmaarten Pride

Our foundation has a URGENT request for all beach bars and restaurant owners and operators on the island. Last Friday our foundation received a call from a patron at one of the beach bars on Grand Case Beach FWI. The caller told us that a group of Russian tourists removed several star fish from the ocean and played with them and left them on the beach to die. The caller approached a waiter and asked if he can please tell the tourists to put the star fish back into the sea. The waiter who only arrived on the island a few days ago and is working there, said ok, but they are only taking pictures. An hour goes by and the star fish were still on land. At this point a American tourist passed by and cursed the group for what they did and he took it upon himself to throw the star fish back into the ocean. 2 of them died as they were floating. several of the star fish were small size (babies) We are hereby calling on all tourists to NOT REMOVE STAR FISH from the sea! If you would like to take pictures please do so underwater! Star Fish also called Sea Stars are part of the marine eco-system and not a toy for you to bring on land, left to die, for your entertainment. We hereby commend the tourist who took the initiative to save some of the star fish by putting them back into their natural habitat.

[barcann.livejournal.com]