Sea Turtles Swim to Freedom
Good news for turtles! Recently Care2 reported that special sanctuaries for leatherback turtles had been set up both off the west coast of the U.S. and on a stretch of Puerto Rico’s north coast.
Now comes news that the Thai Navy has developed a special program to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered hawksbill turtle; since 1992, they have been releasing around 11,000 of these turtles every year.
As Commander Kitti Wongrak, Chief Public Relations officer for the Sea Turtle Conservation Centre, says in the video below:
“The number of sea turtles in Thailand and around the world is continually decreasing. Female turtles lay eggs on the beach where there are no human residents, but development projects and tourism expansion are threatening the species.”
The Thai navy collects hawksbill eggs laid in a conservation area, nurturing the baby turtles before releasing them back into nature.
You can watch as Thai Navy officials on August 1 released 980 of these critically endangered hawksbill turtles into the Gulf of Thailand at Sattahip, about 124 miles from Bangkok, as part of its campaign to protect them from extinction.
Bravo for the Thai Navy!
SOURCE
VIDEO The Thai Navy releases nearly 1,000 turtles into the sea, part of a campaign aimed at protecting them from extinction.
I work with sea turtles everyday. There is an Eco center on the bay of Akumal, where I work and we are told that releasing the turtles by hand is the worst thing we can do for their survival. We are releasing them at night only and we are using a flight light to guide them. The baby turtles are always following the light when in the dark. It finds his way by itself and has more chance of survival. We are told that if released by hand, the baby turtles have 0% chance of survival! :(
I just hope that that kind of turtle is different because humans think they are helping sometimes when they are in fact making it worst! :(
We have a lot to learn about turtles still but researchers at the Eco center where I work are doing a great job and we are learning every week about turtles behevior. And please, do not touch the sea turtles and let it follow its natural path! ;)