The endangered Leatherback Marine Turtle
The leatherback sea turtle population is in high risk of extinction, and human activities are to blame. Things such as plastic waste, construction along the coastlines, fishing line, toxic chemicals (including petrol), and poaching and hunting of turtles and their eggs are killing the species. As a result, it’s estimated that only 1 in 1,000 newly hatched leatherback turtles will survive to become adults. Here on Playa Grande in Cahuita, nearly all of the turtle nests in 2018 were emptied of their eggs due to illegal poaching.
Turtle Rescue Cahuita
The upside to humans being at fault is that we have the ability to fix it. The group, Turtle Rescue Cahuita, is very active in making change in our community through conservation, investigation, and ecotourism. Their mission is to protect the turtles and other wildlife through education and active participation of the community. They work with the community in initiating conservation efforts such as reforestation, beach clean-ups, recycling programs, and awareness/education.
With the backing of the Costa Rican government, they are purveying the following actions:
- Protecting the eggs and releasing the turtles back to the sea.
- Creating employment for the local communities as incentive to stop the illegal poaching.
- Collecting financial aid through donations and sponsorships.
- Obtaining government aid to the protect the turtles on Playa Grande in Cahuita.
- Obtaining access to government funding programs for education.
If you have a soft spot in your heart for the sea turtles, or nature in general, you can help by forwarding this message to help educate others, and/or by making a donation to the help the program by way of Paypal or a bank transfer. Small actions can make big waves!
To make a donation, you can email the group for more information, or send a contribution via Paypal using the following email address: [email protected].
Thanks for reading and sharing!
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