A high-risk egg race to save sea turtles from Gulf oil spill
By NPR Staff
July 3, 2010 As the oil spill coats Gulf Coast beaches, rescuers are hatching a daring plan to save as many as 70,000 sea turtle eggs from the disaster. Each year, thousands of newly hatched sea turtles scramble from their nests in the Florida Panhandle’s sandy beaches and Alabama coasts into the water. With those waters fouled by oil and chemical dispersant, a whole generation of sea turtles could be harmed or even destroyed. Hundreds of turtles and birds have already died in the oil spill, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is determined that this year’s hatchlings won’t be among the casualties. Biologists plan to relocate all the nests from the Gulf Coast to Florida’s eastern coast, agency spokesman Chuck Underwood tells NPR’s Scott Simon. “They’ll be allowed to complete their incubation, and hopefully the turtles will emerge,” Underwood says. Then “we can collect them and release them to the ocean.” In a couple of weeks, he says, the rescue team will dig up an estimated 700 to 800 nests, place them in foam containers and ship them overland to Florida’s far side. They don’t make car seats for baby turtles, but it turns out some companies do specialize in transporting wildlife — like FedEx, which will be delivering the eggs. Another big name is offering luxury accommodations for the eggs when they reach their destination: the Kennedy Space Center. “The space center’s provided the opportunity for us to utilize one of their large, climate-controlled warehouses,” Underwood says. It even has a wildlife contractor on staff. “We have a lot of partners involved that normally would not all necessarily agree on something,” Underwood says. “But the general consensus is this is at least an opportunity to try to do something in a situation that has been less than ideal for wildlife.” …
