Posted on: 2017-09-26 10:30:14
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Recent turtle news you may have missed.
Stories include protecting turtles from cars, straws, & fisheries, among other things. Plus releases of rehabbed turtles & hatchlings. Also cleaning up beaches & reefs to help the turtles & other marine life.
Recent Box Turtle News
Meet Jake, a pampered box turtle in a place where turtle pets are often taken for granted.
Keeping a box turtle safe: Jake the box turtle has a lush, escape-proof “tortress.” He’s one lucky guy. But his humans learned the hard way, after an animal killed their previous boxie while they were away.
Recent U. S. Turtle News
Recent stories include a whole day devoted to the leatherback turtle (in Santa Cruz, anyway). Also protecting turtles from cars, straws, & more. Plus several releases and other news.
Head to Santa Cruz for Leatherback Turtle Day: It’s happening at the Sanctuary Exploration Center on October 14. If you’re nearby, check it out. And be sure to wear your best Leatherback turtle costume! (yes, really!). 💗
Visit Cuba to help green sea turtles: The Florida Aquarium is already helping Cuba save dying coral. Next year it will start an eco-travel/educational program to bring visitors to Cuba and teach them about green sea turtles. And hopefully encourage the Cuban tourism industry to recognize protecting these animals is good business.
Western Pond Turtles help us monitor the environment: By studying the turtle population and health, we can not only learn more about the animals. We can also see how healthy the ecosystem is.
Protecting Maine’s turtles: Route 236 in Eliot is a dangerous place to be a turtle. But a new project will route them under the road.
A helping hand for hatchlings: Sometimes the baby sea turtles don’t quite make it to the sea after hatching. They get disoriented and end up far from the sea. But some of them get a 2nd chance at the Mote Marine Laboratory’s Hatchling Hospital. 💗
This young lady wants you to put down that straw: She may be only 10, but she knows straws just aren’t necessary for most people. And she’s convinced several restaurants in her town to only give out straws on request. Why? To protect the turtles!
Toot has gone home!: The Clearwater Marine Aquarium released the sub-adult loggerhead on Sept. 21. Staff had been caring for him since late July, including through hurricane Irma. (Includes video)
Hawaii’s 1000th rehabbed turtle goes home: He had a fish hook in his mouth & fishing line around a flipper. He washed ashore in Maui, went to Honolulu for rehab, and back to Maui for release. 💗
Water Discovery Lab is equal parts education center and real-world water monitoring: Students can collect and analyze water samples. Then they upload the results to a water monitoring website.
Dickerson Park Zoo honored for its care of wild animals: In addition to the animals living there, the zoo takes in injured animals. It recently released a rehabbed owl (the main focus of this story), and is caring for a box turtle with a cracked shell.
And remember to keep following the Tour de Turtles!: 36 days to go! This fun but important project helps scientists understand how sea turtles migrate from their nesting grounds to their feeding grounds.
Recent International Turtle News
We found a call to boycott fisheries that harm sea turtle and other life, a chance to tour a turtle hospital, and efforts to keep beaches & reefs clean for turtles and other marine life. Plus more.
Just cute: No story, just an adorable picture of a baby leatherback heading to sea. (Costa Rica) 💞
Flo was very good for her CT scan: It took 5 people to lift the hawksbill sea turtle onto the machine! She isn’t eating right, and the Perth Zoo wants to find out why.
Turtle Island Restoration Network wants your help to boycott unsustainably caught swordfish. These fisheries also catch sea turtles, whales, and other marine life. Sometimes they get more “bycatch” than swordfish. 😢
Open House at the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre: Stop in on Sept. 30 to take a tour, meet some turtles, and win some prizes! Even adopt a turtle (you don’t get to take it home. 😉 ) 💗
Mapping turtle hot spots in Hastings Highlands: Kelly Wallace is on a one-person mapping spree! Ok, not exactly. But she has been integral in the effort to map turtle hot spots in Bancroft. Now she’s asking for help to do the same for Hastings Highlands. (Ontario, Canada)
Facial recognition for turtle conservation? Yep, the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles is in fact taking ID pictures of nesting sea turtles. 😲 Then photo identification software can determine if it’s a”new” or returning turtle.
Cleanup on Sandspit Beach: It was part of International Coastal Cleanup Week. Participants collected 300 bags of garbage! The beach is an important green sea turtle nesting site. (Karachi, Pakistan)
Cleanup at Similajau Nation Park, too: Divers cleared more than 150 kg of debris from the waters, including Patricia Reef. (Bintulu, Malaysia)
Rebuilding turtle populations in Vietnam: Some nests were moved to beaches where turtle populations have declined. Most of the eggs hatched & hopefully the babies will return to their “new” beaches when they’re ready to lay eggs themselves.