VIRGINIA BEACH
This is a different kind of hurricane preparedness story.
At 1:30 p.m. Friday, with dark clouds looming to the south, biologist John Gallegos from Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge dug up a loggerhead turtle nest. The nest had been discovered last week by a New York boy who stuck his hand in the sand next to his mom's chair and came up with a baby turtle.
Since then, the nest, in Sandbridge, had been protected with a wire cage and yellow tape, but nothing could protect it from Tropical Storm Hanna; it was so close to the ocean that the storm waves would drown everything inside.
Gallegos thought that the nest had probably already hatched, but loggerheads are a threatened species, so he decided to dig it up just to make sure. And when he stuck his hand in the sand, he too came up with a baby.
The turtle flapped its flippers. Gallegos looked it over.
"I'm going to let him go," he said.
The first raindrops sprinkled as he set the turtle down on the sand.
The baby got stuck in a footprint, turned south, paused, turned back to the water. Gallegos kept an eye on the sky, where a gull hung in the air, watching. The baby inched toward the water, was snagged by the swash and disappeared into the surf.
Gallegos dug again in the nest and came up with 12 more babies. Sarah Davis, a volunteer at Back Bay, pulled out four more.
A crowd gathered to watch the babies jerk their way through the wet sand to the sea. Cameras clicked.
Gallegos went back to the nest. More babies. Davis chased away another hungry bird. Back to the nest. More babies.
By the time the rain was really pelting down, 27 baby turtles had been rescued and released. Fifty-one empty eggshells were found. An additional 86 unhatched, rotted eggs were gathered.
Gallegos and Davis were soaked. Watching them, vacationer Barb Mantegani of McLean said their hard work had restored her faith in people.
"I'm glad they care enough to do this," she said. And as the last baby crawled into the sea, she added: "Excellent."
Diane Tennant, (757) 446-2478, diane.tennant@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Turtles
This is good news, and I am glad that the Turtles were protected somewhat from predators, that usually take many of the hatchlings.
Excellent Video
What an excellent video!
We happened to have family staying in Sandbridge when the turtles/eggs were discovered. I was pleasantly surprised to see how things turned out.
Wonderful
I'm so glad those turtles made it safely to the ocean. And many thanks to all involved in their rescue!!!