SAVED SEA TURTLES
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From the oil spil they saved 100s and 100s of seaturtle eggs and 70 thousand seaturtles could be born when they hatch. So now it's most likley for seaturtles not to be extinct any more.
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PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE, Texas — Hundreds of tiny baby turtles with their dime-sized paddle-like feet dragged through the sand on Monday heading for a new home in the Gulf of Mexico despite the threat of oil some 400 miles away.
Born just days ago, these endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles were released off the Texas coast to a perilous life fleeing predators — and now also oil from the BP spill.
Unlike a decision to move loggerhead turtles in Florida to safer waters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service decided in June to go ahead with the annual releases of thousands of Kemp's ridley turtle off the coasts of Texas and Mexico.
Since then, between 7,000 and 8,000 baby Kemp's have been released.
The Kemp's loggerhead cousins, who mostly nest and hatch in Florida, are being moved to that state's eastern coast to ensure they are not released directly into the oil's path. As for the Kemp's, federal biologists hope by the time the silver-dollar sized critters swim to the spill zone, BP will have cleaned up the toxic gook.
The biologists believe that baby turtles released in areas not directly impacted by the oil would suffer greater harm if they were held in captivity until the slick is cleaned. The decision to release the Kemp's has stirred debate, though, especially among those who fear the turtles' recovery will suffer a major setback due to the spill.
Donna Shaver, the National Park Service's resident turtle expert, is doing everything to make the releases a success though she is worried about the hatchlings — and their mothers, many of whom she is tracking and are now foraging in Louisiana waters.
"There are concerns about potential impacts to the turtles form that captive rearing, impacts on their behavior after they're released," Shaver said.
Kemp's ridley turtles have been on the endangered list since 1973, and the U.S. and Mexico have worked together since then to try to rejuvenate the species. Charles W. Caillouet Jr., a retired fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Galveston, oversaw a "head start" program from 1978 to 1993 that included raising Kemp's ridley turtles until they were up to 11 months old. He believes the program was successful at increasing the turtles' numbers, especially on Texas beaches.
Born just days ago, these endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles were released off the Texas coast to a perilous life fleeing predators — and now also oil from the BP spill.
Unlike a decision to move loggerhead turtles in Florida to safer waters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service decided in June to go ahead with the annual releases of thousands of Kemp's ridley turtle off the coasts of Texas and Mexico.
Since then, between 7,000 and 8,000 baby Kemp's have been released.
The Kemp's loggerhead cousins, who mostly nest and hatch in Florida, are being moved to that state's eastern coast to ensure they are not released directly into the oil's path. As for the Kemp's, federal biologists hope by the time the silver-dollar sized critters swim to the spill zone, BP will have cleaned up the toxic gook.
The biologists believe that baby turtles released in areas not directly impacted by the oil would suffer greater harm if they were held in captivity until the slick is cleaned. The decision to release the Kemp's has stirred debate, though, especially among those who fear the turtles' recovery will suffer a major setback due to the spill.
Donna Shaver, the National Park Service's resident turtle expert, is doing everything to make the releases a success though she is worried about the hatchlings — and their mothers, many of whom she is tracking and are now foraging in Louisiana waters.
"There are concerns about potential impacts to the turtles form that captive rearing, impacts on their behavior after they're released," Shaver said.
Kemp's ridley turtles have been on the endangered list since 1973, and the U.S. and Mexico have worked together since then to try to rejuvenate the species. Charles W. Caillouet Jr., a retired fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Galveston, oversaw a "head start" program from 1978 to 1993 that included raising Kemp's ridley turtles until they were up to 11 months old. He believes the program was successful at increasing the turtles' numbers, especially on Texas beaches.