Victory for Turtles in the Gulf

As a welcome back from the holiday weekend, I am thrilled to share an update from the Center for Biological Diversity, made on Friday July 2. On June 29, I wrote about the horrendous acts of cruelty to which marine animals were subjected in BP's attempt to hasten the cleanup of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, namely being burnt alive along with corralled oil. Additionally we learned that not only the endangered sea turtles were being impacted, but dolphins and other marine mammals were being killed as well. But according to the awesome email I received from the Center for Biological Diversity, an agreement was finally reached between conservation groups, the Coast Guard and BP. BP will assure that sea turtles are permitted rescue from the surface of the oil spill, before excess oil is burnt off. This announcement arrived moments prior to a New Orleans' court hearing about the lawsuit which was seeking a temporary restraining order on the oil burning procedure. Video comments made by shrimp boat captain Michael Ellis documented the turtle-burning. Coupled with information shared by the Center for Biological Diversity, along with the many other involved conservation organizations, folks were made aware of BP's egregious activities. As a result, the public was outraged. Enlisting peoples' support, The Center for Biological Diversity was enabled to hand-deliver tens of thousands of petition signatures to the oil company. Regrettably, as of July 1, 594 stranded sea turtles were found dead in the gulf area. According to the Center for Biological Diversity's report, "Four hundred and forty-one were dead when they were found and 153 were alive. Many more have likely been injured or killed, but not found." Miyoko Sakashita, ocean's director at the Center for Biological Diversity, commented, "Endangered sea turtles need all hands on deck to work toward saving them from this terrible oil spill. It's great news that BP and the Coast Guard have agreed to take steps to rescue turtles and prevent them from burning." In more good news, according to a report on National Public Radio on Saturday July 3, 2010, to save a generation of sea turtles from extinction from the Deep Horizon Oil catastrophe, a group of federal and state biologists have "hatched" a rather tricky plan to excavate the approximate 800 nests already dug along the beaches of the Alabama coast and Florida's Panhandle. They will carefully relocate all the eggs about 500 miles to the east. These nests will then most likely be stored in a climate-controlled warehouse donated by the Kennedy Space Center. Any turtles that survive the move and hatch their eggs will be released into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean which have not yet been contaminated by the oil spill. While it is possible that thousands of turtle hatchlings may not survive the move, Chuck Underwood, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services said, "Even if what we're doing isn't a great thing, it's better than doing nothing." Read more about this innovative plan to save the sea turtles here. "Together we do make a difference," don't you agree? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.