Rescuing Sea Turtles
Saved me
Seven years ago I had to retire suddenly due to illness. I was still young and vital, but 4 doctors told me that I needed to stop working, in order to live into old age.
Advice well taken. I wandered around for upwards of a year, absent from my busy professional life; most of my friends were also from work. So, I spent hours alone wondering what my next chapter would be. I was lonely and sad, taking one day at a time into the future.
I loved walking on the beach. One day I met two volunteers, Allison and Jerry, in the state park near my home. They were busily digging up newly laid turtle nests, as well as evaluating nests that had recently hatched. It was bloody hot, with no sea breezes. We hardly spoke, as they were occupied counting eggs, and documenting the nests.
The next morning, and for several mornings thereafter, I saw them both out working with the turtles. One day, Allison, asked me if I wanted to hold a couple of hatchlings. She graciously recorded this moment by taking my picture, below.
As I set the little fellas down, and watched them disappear into the surf, I knew I had met my future. Allison, a retired nurse, and Jerry, a retired schoolteacher asked me if I wanted to join them.
I couldn’t say yes fast enough, and for 7 years now, I’ve risen before the sun on most days during the spring and summer to chase the turtles. Not only am I doing meaningful work in nature, I’ve made wonderful like-minded friends, who don’t consider themselves retired; they’ve just found their next career which is called “PASSION”.
The work is physically demanding. The species we find are Loggerhead, Green and Leatherback turtles. We’ve learned to analyze every nuance of a turtle’s crawl to determine its species, and other characteristics, such as possible age or any health ailments. Female turtles become mamas between 25 and 30 years of age and can lay upwards of 6 nests per season. At an average of 100 eggs per nest, turtles are prolific. Unfortunately, only a small percentage survive to adulthood.
The outcome of our morning digging is not always rewarding, especially when a hurricane wipes out several nests, or a raccoon digs up hatchlings and feasts on them for breakfast. But, overall, absent hurricanes, the past two years have been a windfall for Mother Nature.
We have found that 25% more nests are being laid each year (than laid in the prior year). This year we will end up with 425 or more nests on just 3 miles of shore. Of these nests, we are finding that 90% of the eggs hatch. This means that conservation efforts which began about 20 years ago seem to be working.
How exciting! It seems we may be recovering from human damage perpetrated upon these 3 endangered species over the past century.
By far, the most endangered sea turtle species in my area are the Leatherback turtles. If we are lucky, we will have 1 or 2 nests per year; it took 4 years for me to observe my first nest. Below are the first and only hatchlings I have seen, and they are a marvel. Leatherbacks are the giants of our ocean, some say their size rivals a Volkswagen bug.
Joy overflows in my life each day that I spend with the turtles. My wholesome interaction with nature is very fulfilling and has made my retirement years happy.
Note: working with endangered species, requires many permits and extensive training. The author volunteers for a fully permitted program, on both the state and federal level. Lay persons are not permitted to handle these animals.
