None were found.

The nest protection – a wooden frame topped with heavy wire mesh and secured to the ground by iron spikes at each corner – was designed to deter predators.

They were not meant to stop a poacher, said Mabyn Armstrong of Turtles Kingston.

“You could see his footprints, where his feet were planted firmly and it took all his energy. I’ve pulled those things up and it is not easy,” Armstrong said. “He just yanked it up and flipped it over. That tells you it wasn’t vandalism, it was what he was after.”

After the frames were out of the way, the culprit apparently used a hand trowel to dig down to solid rock before removing the eggs.