Through religious teachings, people can be influenced to display pro-environmental behaviors. Balinese Hinduism advocates the concept of balance which relates to the nature of relationship between humans and nature. Hindus are reminded to preserve the natural resources of the earth and to be non-violent to all living things. As such, the large scale slaughter of sea turtles as sacrifices is largely due to misinterpretation of the religious teachings behind Balinese Hinduism.

Credit: Andiawan

Thus, conservation groups have worked with Hindu high priests to re-shape the values and beliefs of the Balinese community by clarifying the misconceptions behind the use of sea turtles as religious offerings and to re-emphasize that the Hindu religion stresses the importance of conserving nature. Hindu high priest and conservation activist, Ida Pedanda Gede Ngurah Kaleran, has stressed that turtles are not crucial for religious or traditional rituals and that such slaughter of turtles goes against Hindu teaching. Also, many Balinese offer sea turtles for numerous rituals and ceremonies but in actual fact, only the Padudusan Agung, Pancabali Krama, Ekadasa Rudra, Tri Buana, and Eka Buana ceremonies actually require the sacrifice of a turtle. Furthermore, substitutes in the form of other animals or even virtual animals (drawings and models) can be used in replace of sea turtles (Jensen, 2009).

Thus, in raising the awareness of ritual knowledge in Bali, the Balinese community would learn that it is not necessary to use sea turtles as sacrifices in majority of the religious ceremonies. This would also stem the use of religious purposes as a smokescreen to slaughter sea turtles.