Unbelievably, we are less than 10 days away from beginning our daily early morning beach walks to patrol for turtle nests. Don't ask me how it came to be April already, I'm still stuck in January. Maybe you're new to the blog, so I'll briefly recap what this turtle walk business is about.
Mr. Happy Vegan is a volunteer for Save a Turtle of the Florida Keys (www.save-a-turtle.org) and also sits on the Board. I am a volunteer for the organization. Sea turtles nest around the world, including beaches in the Florida Keys. All sea turtles in the world are either endangered or threatened species. There is a massive conservation effort going on, including efforts by Save a Turtle. Volunteers take special training, and commit to a schedule to walk an assigned section of beach every morning looking for turtle nests. The nests are documented and monitored. All the data goes to the Fish & Wildlife agency, where its analyzed, studied, and so forth. This is important for so many reasons. Its important because it documents trends in the species (for example, higher numbers, or lower numbers), and the data is crucial because of legal challenges. As we know, we live in a litigious society. I don't like it, don't like it one bit. But, there it is anyway. So, if there's a permit being asked for (and denied), or perhaps an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with dead turtles, official data is needed to prove things in court. Mr. Happy Vegan and I are part of a vast network throughout the State of Florida that does these turtle walks.
Last night was our training. This so-not-a-morning-person-but-so-forced-to-be-a-morning-person didn't get home until a little after 10pm. That's pretty late in my world, but it was important to go to the training. As sea turtles are all protected species, you must have a permit to interact with them. The trainings we take every year gets us qualified for those permits, and this wildlife para-professional work. Among the many things I learned last night is that 2 of the main species that do nest in Florida (greens and leatherbacks) are showing an upward trend in hatchlings & nests. This is good news. I also learned that the main species that nest here in the Florida Keys (loggerheads, which are the ones we see predominately on our own Long Beach) remain on a pretty steep downward trend for nests & hatchlings. "They" don't know why. Any fool (myself included) can say that the health (or lack thereof) of our oceans are impacting the turtles. That, and longlining. Oh, by the way, if you're not yet a member of Sea Shepherd, what are you waiting for? The biologists, scientists, researchers and tons of other "official" people cannot say for sure. Really no one can, its true. But, its not rocket science to look in our own backyard where ever we live and say, we're trashing the planet, and all that is on it is suffering. Including turtles.
I'm not sure what it is about turtles that moves me so much, but I am not alone. My life forever changed when I went to the Turtle Hospital so many years ago as a tourist, just on a whim. What I learned was astounding, and once we moved here, well, its a waste of time to not get involved to make a situation better on any level. Turtles included. Plus, anyone cannot help be moved to tears when you see either an adult female haul out and nest, or watch baby hatchlings spring forth under the moonlight. I've assisted stranded baby hatchlings, and actually held some in my hands. They're so small, so very small.
Imagine, you spring out of an egg the exact size of a ping pong ball, and somehow know which direction to go to get to sea. Hatchlings do this on their own, they're programmed. There's no adult to teach them how to get out of the egg, how to wait for most of them to hatch in the nest so they spring out together, how to walk, how to climb to the sea, how to swim, how to eat, how to live. No one is their mentor. They face incredible obstacles, some before they even emerge. Predators can take them (here its not people, that is illegal in this country, instead its animals like birds, raccoons, even fire ants can destroy a nest, seen it happen; its bad). Then, as they scramble to see, ghost crabs can pick them off, raccoons can still get them, birds, or whatever else is hungry. Then, once they get to the ocean, the food chain begins and they are eaten by fish or anything else that's bigger than a teeny tiny baby turtle.
One in 100 is the estimated number of how many reach adulthood. Yikes. But, imagine for that one, the life they can have, the life they should have. Swimming free in the ocean, eating their food, no boundaries anywhere, not polluting the world, not taking more than they need. Enjoying the warm sunshine as they come up to breathe, dozing gently in the ocean's hidden crevices. Prehistoric creatures. I like to imagine this, instead of the realities they face, long line fishing killing them, illegal poaching, boat strikes, boat collisions, and so forth. No, instead, for that moment when I hold that teeny hatchling in my hand, I say a silent wish for protection and courage, for the Universe to love, protect and nurture them, and then off to sea they go. I watch until I can no longer see them. I imagine them 3 days later hiding out in the saragassum weed line, getting their nutrition, growing up, and then becoming adults. If they're female, they'll come back to the beach where they were born. Its all too incredible, but its true.
Humankind hasn't a clue about anything that really matters on this planet. Nothing. We know less about our oceans than we do about our moon. We know very little about the other life forms on this planet, and we're bringing species we haven't even discovered to extinction every day, all in the name of "progress." Maybe progress is just another word for arrogance or ignorance. Either way, we're coming up to turtle time, and its reason to celebrate. Fasten your seat belts, we hope its going to be a good ride.
Mr. Happy Vegan is a volunteer for Save a Turtle of the Florida Keys (www.save-a-turtle.org) and also sits on the Board. I am a volunteer for the organization. Sea turtles nest around the world, including beaches in the Florida Keys. All sea turtles in the world are either endangered or threatened species. There is a massive conservation effort going on, including efforts by Save a Turtle. Volunteers take special training, and commit to a schedule to walk an assigned section of beach every morning looking for turtle nests. The nests are documented and monitored. All the data goes to the Fish & Wildlife agency, where its analyzed, studied, and so forth. This is important for so many reasons. Its important because it documents trends in the species (for example, higher numbers, or lower numbers), and the data is crucial because of legal challenges. As we know, we live in a litigious society. I don't like it, don't like it one bit. But, there it is anyway. So, if there's a permit being asked for (and denied), or perhaps an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with dead turtles, official data is needed to prove things in court. Mr. Happy Vegan and I are part of a vast network throughout the State of Florida that does these turtle walks.
Last night was our training. This so-not-a-morning-person-but-so-forced-to-be-a-morning-person didn't get home until a little after 10pm. That's pretty late in my world, but it was important to go to the training. As sea turtles are all protected species, you must have a permit to interact with them. The trainings we take every year gets us qualified for those permits, and this wildlife para-professional work. Among the many things I learned last night is that 2 of the main species that do nest in Florida (greens and leatherbacks) are showing an upward trend in hatchlings & nests. This is good news. I also learned that the main species that nest here in the Florida Keys (loggerheads, which are the ones we see predominately on our own Long Beach) remain on a pretty steep downward trend for nests & hatchlings. "They" don't know why. Any fool (myself included) can say that the health (or lack thereof) of our oceans are impacting the turtles. That, and longlining. Oh, by the way, if you're not yet a member of Sea Shepherd, what are you waiting for? The biologists, scientists, researchers and tons of other "official" people cannot say for sure. Really no one can, its true. But, its not rocket science to look in our own backyard where ever we live and say, we're trashing the planet, and all that is on it is suffering. Including turtles.
I'm not sure what it is about turtles that moves me so much, but I am not alone. My life forever changed when I went to the Turtle Hospital so many years ago as a tourist, just on a whim. What I learned was astounding, and once we moved here, well, its a waste of time to not get involved to make a situation better on any level. Turtles included. Plus, anyone cannot help be moved to tears when you see either an adult female haul out and nest, or watch baby hatchlings spring forth under the moonlight. I've assisted stranded baby hatchlings, and actually held some in my hands. They're so small, so very small.
Imagine, you spring out of an egg the exact size of a ping pong ball, and somehow know which direction to go to get to sea. Hatchlings do this on their own, they're programmed. There's no adult to teach them how to get out of the egg, how to wait for most of them to hatch in the nest so they spring out together, how to walk, how to climb to the sea, how to swim, how to eat, how to live. No one is their mentor. They face incredible obstacles, some before they even emerge. Predators can take them (here its not people, that is illegal in this country, instead its animals like birds, raccoons, even fire ants can destroy a nest, seen it happen; its bad). Then, as they scramble to see, ghost crabs can pick them off, raccoons can still get them, birds, or whatever else is hungry. Then, once they get to the ocean, the food chain begins and they are eaten by fish or anything else that's bigger than a teeny tiny baby turtle.
One in 100 is the estimated number of how many reach adulthood. Yikes. But, imagine for that one, the life they can have, the life they should have. Swimming free in the ocean, eating their food, no boundaries anywhere, not polluting the world, not taking more than they need. Enjoying the warm sunshine as they come up to breathe, dozing gently in the ocean's hidden crevices. Prehistoric creatures. I like to imagine this, instead of the realities they face, long line fishing killing them, illegal poaching, boat strikes, boat collisions, and so forth. No, instead, for that moment when I hold that teeny hatchling in my hand, I say a silent wish for protection and courage, for the Universe to love, protect and nurture them, and then off to sea they go. I watch until I can no longer see them. I imagine them 3 days later hiding out in the saragassum weed line, getting their nutrition, growing up, and then becoming adults. If they're female, they'll come back to the beach where they were born. Its all too incredible, but its true.
Humankind hasn't a clue about anything that really matters on this planet. Nothing. We know less about our oceans than we do about our moon. We know very little about the other life forms on this planet, and we're bringing species we haven't even discovered to extinction every day, all in the name of "progress." Maybe progress is just another word for arrogance or ignorance. Either way, we're coming up to turtle time, and its reason to celebrate. Fasten your seat belts, we hope its going to be a good ride.
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