In this incredible video, a sea turtle circles back to come face-to-face with the diver who just cut away a rope tangled around one of her flippers.
Self awareness is prominent across the animal kingdom and this video offers another important piece of evidence.
PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and Logic
I received an email today through Oceana, in response to my earlier post concerning the US Fish and Wildlife’s move to protect loggerhead sea turtle nesting site along the Atlantic and Gulf coast regions.
The attached release reports the USFWS move comes after a lawsuit was filed earlier this year – by the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. It seems federal agencies had failed to act on petitions filed by the organizations, pushing for protections for the important nesting regions.
The full press release:
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U.S. Government Finally Acts in Response to Conservation Lawsuits
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— After five years of delay, the federal government today finally proposed to protect more than 739 miles of critical habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles on their nesting beaches along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. These sea turtles face serious threats to their long-term survival from drowning in fishing nets, loss of nesting beaches due to coastal development and sea-level rise. The proposal spans from North Carolina to Mississippi and encompasses 84 percent of all known nesting areas.
Today’s action by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comes as a result of a lawsuit filed earlier this year by conservation groups Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, and Turtle Island Restoration Network, after federal agencies failed to respond to separate petitions filed by the groups to strengthen protections for all loggerhead populations in the U.S. dating back to 2007.
“The Southeast’s nesting loggerheads swim thousands of miles through an obstacle course of human-made hazards,” said Jaclyn Lopez, a Florida attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Protected beach habitat will help ensure that when they reach our beaches, exhausted and ready to nest, they’re met with true southern hospitality: plenty of food, good conditions for nesting, and safe beaches for hatchlings to leave their nests so they may someday return to continue the cycle of life.”
PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and LogicThe US Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of identifying vital nesting sites for loggerhead sea turtles.
The full press release:
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Service Identifies Coastal Beach Habitat Important for Recovery of Northwest Atlantic Population of Loggerhead Sea Turtles
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has begun the process of identifying coastal beach habitat important for the recovery of the threatened Northwest Atlantic Ocean population of loggerhead sea turtles, as directed by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The agency has preliminarily identified portions of island and mainland coastal beaches in six states to propose as critical habitat, and is seeking public comment on the proposed rule.
The proposed critical habitat areas include 90 nesting beaches in coastal counties located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. The proposed areas incorporate about 740 beach shoreline miles and account for approximately 84 percent of the documented nesting (numbers of nests) within these six states.
PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and LogicAn leatherback sea turtle, with her back flippers severely injured in a shark attack, gets help each nesting season from volunteers in Palm Beach County, Fla.
They are able spot her, sneak up behind her and assist her with digging her nests. Without this help, Clover would most likely lay the eggs too shallow and the eggs would not survive.
I was invited to take part in a great experience Wednesday morning – a sea turtle release at Topsail Beach, NC.
The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center had nursed 25 turtles back to health and prepared them to be returned to their home in the sea. The hospital is an incredible facility with an equally incredible staff of organizers and volunteers.
Rocky Kistner of the NRDC produced an article on HuffingtonPost.com reporting on a troubling trend. Sea turtles and other marine animals are being found washed ashore on the beaches of coastal Mississippi at an alarming rate.
Thirty-eight dead or stranded sea turtles have been discovered thus far this year in Mississippi and 134 dolphins have been found stranded along the Gulf Coast so far in 2011.
The National Marine Fisheries Service seems to be suggesting several possible causes, including infectious disease, water temperature changes, biotoxins or the impacts from the BP Oil gusher.