Posted on: 2018-07-20 10:30:53
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Recent turtle news you may have missed.
Sea turtles keep nesting, getting rescued, and going home. Sadly not all tangled turtles find help in time.
Meanwhile nests have started to hatch, but our lights still confuse too many who never make it to the sea.
But turtle lovers keep doing what they can to help, from headstarting babies to becoming accidental turtle rescuers.
Plus more.
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Recent Box Turtle News
Once again we didn’t find any box turtles in the news this week. But we did find this picture, from Garden State Tortoise, of a Gulf Coast boxie having a dip. 💚
Recent U. S. Turtle News
This week saw more sea turtle rescues & releases, along with a sad picture of how our trash can hurt these beautiful creatures.
We also found hatchling news, Western pond turtle conservation news, and more.
First a little fun …
Sheriff’s Deputy berates “grandpa” who “shouldn’t be out on the road”: But it’s all in good fun, as he pokes along behind a big snapping turtle trucking along at 1 mph! 😄
Sea turtle news
Did you miss the Ridley Rendezvous? Here’s a quick, 1-1/2-minute video showing the fun, including live turtle releases, a turtle mascot, playing in the sand & more.
Poor Donkey Kong has had a rough go of it: But his luck changed when fishermen rescued him from the fishing line & buoy he got tangled in. And after 2 weeks at Clearwater Marine Aquarium he passed the balloon he apparently ate. He seems to be feeling much better now. Includes pictures & video. (Florida)
Please, please take your stuff with when you leave the beach! Otherwise you could be the cause of something like this poor turtle, strangled by a beach chair. 😢 (Warning: graphic photo at top of page). (Alabama)
Bigger nets make it easier to save bigger sea turtles: Up until now the rescue nets used under the “Responsible Pier Initiative” to get hooked turtles onto land worked great for smaller turtles, but not so much for 100+ pound turtles. But a newly designed bigger net may help. 💚
2 Kemp’s ridley sea turtles go home: They had been in treatment at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife for 2-3 weeks, one for a probable boat strike & the other for suspected red tide poisoning. Includes video & pictures. (Florida)
Another sea turtle saved by fishermen: The leatherback turtle had gotten itself tangled in a commercial fishing buoy. The turtle struggled briefly, but them seems to wait patiently until it’s free … but boy did it take off quick once it was! 💚 Video (New Jersey)
Sea turtle nesting & hatching news
Locals not happy with inconsiderate vacationers: That’s probably a common sentiment anywhere. But on Daufuskie Island those vacationers are endangering loggerhead nesting areas.
Excitement, sadness, and frustration as nests start hatching: Five of the 6 nests that hatched recently were disoriented by nearby lights. It looks like none of the hatchlings from those nests made it to the sea. But some have turned up in people’s yards, a fountain, and a pool. 😢 Some of the lights suspected of causing the problem were also reported last year. 😡 (Anna Maria Island)
17 seconds of adorableness: A sea turtle hatchling crawls across the sand in North Carolina. 💚
The nest counts were off by 1: A “false crawl” yielded 88 hatchlings the other day 😮, and turtles are still nesting on Anna Maria Island beaches.
Other turtles news
Have you ever accidentally started a turtle rescue? These people did. 💚 (And strangely we’ve seen similar stories several times!). (Mississippi)
Saving Washington’s Western Pond Turtle: The Woodland Park Zoo has been headstarting these little turtles since 1998. And they’ve made great progress, but there’s still much to do. For one thing, scientists need to figure out what’s causing shell lesions in many of the turtles.
That’s one stinky turtle: Enjoy this short tale of a teacher & her students experiencing the “why” of the musk turtle’s nickname: “stinkpot.”
Turtle tortured & stabbed: Witnesses say a group of teen boys attacked the turtle. A turtle rehabilitator tried to save the turtle but could not. 😡 Includes video & pictures (some graphic, but hidden unless you click). Arkansas
Recent International Turtle News
This week’s news includes rescuing sea turtles and welcoming a baby Palawan forest turtle.
Also rescuing snapping turtle eggs from a mulch pile but sadly losing entire nests elsewhere.
Plus more.
Sea turtle rescue & release news
2nd Olive ridley rescued in span of a week: Both turtles have a 2nd chance at life because local residents cared enough to notice and call for help. (Includes video) Sadly the most recent rescue is missing both front flippers. Includes picture 😢 (Mumbai, India)
3 green sea turtles are back home in the Phillipines: One had been in recovery for more than a year. Includes pictures.
Miscellaneous turtle news
Turtle egg smuggler escapes: Police seized the eggs from a boat, but the smuggler jumped overboard and swam away. 😡 (Malaysia)
Hope for the Palawan forest turtle: A baby hatched in June, the 1st captive-bred one in almost 5 years. 💚 These turtles are critically endangered, so this is awesome news!
The stars aligned for these snapping turtle eggs: Mama laid them in a mulch pile, where they would not have survived long. Luckily a witness knew someone who knew just what to do. The eggs are now incubating happily at Hope for Wildlife. Snapping turtles are considered a vulnerable species in Nova Scotia.
What’s killing the Northern long-necked turtles? An unusual number of dead turtles have turned up on a cattle station near Darwin. The property’s owners and Charles Darwin University researchers have teamed up to try to learn why. Audio report here. (Australia)
Didn’t they see the signs? A construction crew buried snapping turtle nests under a huge pile of rocks before Turtle Watch volunteers could save more than 1 nest. 😢 (Nova Scotia)