I just rescued a baby sea turtle!

[streetjudge79]

I was down at the beach just now behind my condo, perfectly flat crystal clear day at the ocean.(I'm in Miami Beach) As I was walking back up to my building, I see a baby sea turtle trying to make his way to the water which was about 50 yards or so away. He must have gotten lost when he hatched last night and went towards the buildings.He looked a bit dried out but was active as hell. The little guy was the most adorable creature I have ever seen. I picked him up, he stopped flapping around in my hands,almost knowing he was being rescued. I walked him down to the shore and let him go. I watched him swim quite a ways out hoping a seagull would not pick him off and none did. Hopefully the little guy makes it. I had to tell someone. I wish I had my camera with me..

 

[Sk8r]

Good for you that you had the compassion to let him go. May he find lots and lots of jellyfish to munch.

 

[mikecc]

Isnt it wonderful when one can play God?

 

[streetjudge79]

Yeah it was pretty cool. I was nervous when I let him go for his first swim, kinda like a watchful father.. but he was so damn cute swimming...

 

[streetjudge79]

I can't believe this, my wife and I decide to go for a walk on the beach tonight when she came home. We sat down on our towels, not 10 minutes go by and I see something in the sand moving about 15 feet away. It was another baby turtle. I'm glad the wife got to see it this time. We both took the little guy to the shoreline and let him go as well. I plan to go down tomorrow to see if there are more and take my camera this time. There are currently 5 turtle nests right behind my Condo.

 

[HippieSmell]

Re: I just rescued a baby sea turtle!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13125142#post13125142 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by streetjudge79
He must have gotten lost when he hatched last night and went towards the buildings.

When sea turtles hatch at night, they go towards the brightest horizon, which should be the reflective water. Now there is so much light pollution they sometimes get screwed up and go inland.

 

[streetjudge79]

Yep, that is true . I'll probably go check every morning now because there are a lot of spots up by the building where they can get stuck easy. I can't believe these two little guys lasted so long without either getting eaten by seagulls or attacked by the ants. And as soon as I put each one in the water, they took off like bats out of hell, like they got all their energy back. Cool stuff.

 

[billdogg]

Kepp up the great work!!! we (the world) need way more people doing things like that so that we don't end up going the way of the dinasaurs!!!

 

[greenbean36191]

I wouldn't assume it hatched the night before. It's more common to hatch at night, but they can emerge at any time. It's not that unusual for a few from a nest to come out during the day. I've actually seen at least two nests hatch at midday and it's frequently filmed for documentaries since daytime hatches are easier to film.

Also, FWIW as nice as it is to help the turtles down to the water, it's actually a violation of endangered species laws (state and federal) and could result in MAJOR fines, jail time, and confiscated property. If you see them again, it's fine to watch, but don't touch. If they're headed the wrong way or they're obviously lost, call the FWC.

It's thought that the crawl down to the beach is important for imprinting and the ability of the turtle to return to the same beach to lay its eggs. Carrying them down to the water may prevent them from being able to home back to where they hatched.

 

[ediaz]

I used to work with them years ago

I you happen to find another one contact US Fish And Wildlife, like Greenbean said( well I not sure in your case since you are law and sometimes police,army and Coastguard helped us)a "civilian" might get fined or get arrested.

Back to the US FAWS, if the animal was disoriented it might need medical assistance before being released.

E

 

[microbubbles]

dude, you did a good thing... i always have this recurring dream of being in this quaint beach town that takes place just before dawn. and, for some reason i just know i have to run to the beach to save hatchling sea turtles from going the wrong way or getting eaten by seabirds. hundreds and hundreds of them. kinda figured out what the dream meant, but that's another story

i can't confirm this as a fact, but i heard you shouldn't touch the turtles because the oils and such from your hand can cause an infection or somthing or other to the turtle; at least that's what a divemaster in maui told me.

 

[Elan L.]

As part of a Marine biology camp i used to go to a couple years ago, we used to wake up at around 6:00 in the morning and go to the beach to meet up with specially licensed turtle "people" (i dont know what they're called) who patroled the beach early in the morning and marked turtle nest. We would take part in helping them remove eggs from nest's that were in danger of human activity and move them to hatcheries where they can hatch and go to the ocean safely. However, not all of them would be able to get out of the nest and be buried in the sand. By law we had to wait 2 hours or so after they hatched, then we would dig into the nest looking for survivors. We usually found 5 or 6 healthy enough to be released in each nest. Then we walked them up near the water, a couple feet away (like GREENBEAN said they must do some crawling on thier own). We would often have competitions on wich turtle would make it to the ocean first. It was an amazing experience.

 

[ediaz]

we kept hundreds in tanks feeding on squid to get them ready for relase and touching them was not a problem.

E

 

[greenbean36191]

Yeah, simply touching them isn't going to do them harm. I think that's just something that divemasters tell you to keep you out of trouble. It seems like touching just about anything will either kill you or it if you believe the divemasters (not that I disagree with their intentions).

To catch the adults for research you actually drive the boat up next to them and dive out onto their backs and then you have to wrestle them up onto the boat! That probably wouldn't be an acceptable practice if it was harming the turtles.

 

[Elan L.]

The harm in touching a sea turtle while diving is not physical, but mental. If you swim up to a sea turtle and touch it our try to "ride on its back" the turtle freaks out. It thinks it is going to be eaten. This puts a great amount of stress on te turtle. the only exception for doing this is for scientific research.

 

[SmknReefer]

They need to build up muscle while going to the shore, sure. Its best to let them crawl towards and 'defend' them on the way down... seagulls etc.

Blah blah blah..... you did a good thing. What an amazing experience and thanks for helping out an endangered species!

 

[REEF-n-Chicago]

Very neat. Thanks for sharing the experience
Take some pics if you can

 

[kristin23]

Thats so amazing.... I wish I could have seen that......great job!!

 

[P-DUBS]

Earliar this year around late may/early june on long island I was in the marina with a friend running his boat for the first time... I was looking in the water, looked up at him for a sec, then back down in the water and there was a little sea turtle swimming by, I snatched him up with my hand, and it was no bigger then a hockey puck. Cutest little thing i have every seen and FULL OF ENERGY. I released him two mins later and off he went into the great abyss, and may I add there were a TON of jellyfish in the bay that week.....

 

[billsreef]

Based on the size and time of year, it was probably a Diamond Back Terrapin.