“This wasn’t the first time I walked along beaches to sight turtles… but a more recent one with SSTCN here in Chennai. And the first time was confronted with so many carcasses… recently dead turtles. It made me cringe; even the thought of if does now, months later. There could have been several reasons – getting trapped in fishing nets, trawlers or being hit by a rudder for instance.
Even as we walked along the stretch from Neelankarai to Besant Nagar we saw the plethora of problems faced by the species – all right in the face. Fishing equipment littered the beach, leaving little or no space for ridleys to come ashore and nest. If at all they did, there was a threat faced by feral dogs, which are known to ravage entire nests. And a brightly-lit street and rows of houses no more than 500 m. would inevitably disorient a large percentage of a species that already has an extremely low survival rate shows just how much needs to be done for the species’ continuation.
On our walk this time, we dug out two nests that would probably not survive the obstacles on the beach and took them over to SSTCN’s hatchery at Besant Nagar. That, and the enthusiastic bunch of kids with their mentors full of curiosity left me with very some memorable moments….” Anusha Kousik, Coastal Marine Programme, ATREE
Hi people,
First, I should appreciate and Thank the SSTCN group for doing such a wonderful service to the Turtles, which in turn to our own Mother Nature to balance our World.
I had my first Turtle walk on 13th Feb, 2010. I totally agree with Anusha, about the threats these Turtles facing along side the beach. Most of us, including me before the walk, are unaware of these things. We know about the extinction of large animals like Lion or Tiger. These Turtle if unnoticed will also extinct. We should start thinking what are we going to do now, to save them. I already taken a pledge of spreading the word and helping them by any means. When we all unite, we can save them and in turn our very own World. Come together.
Natty.
By: Natarajan on Monday, February 15, 2010
at 3:02 pm