Turtle patrol volunteers give baby sea turtles new life

  • Published
  • By Jerron Barnett
  • Eglin Environmental Management Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  Fifty eight newly hatched baby green sea turtles got their first taste of life and the Gulf of Mexico after the Eglin’s sea turtle patrol volunteers released them to the wild Oct. 27. 

While this was deemed a great day of success for the volunteers, the prospects of the baby turtles surviving to see this day seemed grim just a day earlier. 

Pam Yates, a sea turtle patrol volunteer and brand new to the duties, found a fresh baby sea turtle nest on a routine patrol on the Santa Rosa Island military testing sites Aug. 16. 

It takes approximately 70 days for a nest to hatch out, according to Eglin Natural Resources at Jackson Guard wildlife officials. On Oct. 26, 68 days after the nest was first found, Dotty Blacker, another volunteer, visited the nest and found a terrifying sight. 

Spread out only a few feet from the nest, 49 baby sea turtles lay motionless, nearly frozen from the chilly night before. More than half of the eggs didn’t hatch at all. The weather around Eglin has hovered just above freezing at night. Being exposed to this temperature spelled trouble for the baby turtles that were able to hatch out of their nest during the night. 

Erica Schnarr, Jackson Guard volunteer coordinator, thought it would be a good idea to gather up the baby turtles and brought them back to their work center in Niceville, Fla., to try to save as many as they could, Mrs. Yates said. Blacker gathered the sea turtles and brought them to Jackson Guard, and the volunteers bathed each turtle in warm water to try to bring their body temperature up. At first, there appeared to be no response from the turtles. 

“It looked hopeless,” Mrs. Yates said. 

But, for some reason, Mrs. Schnarr picked up one of the turtles that she had already dipped in the warm water and flipped him on as his back. As soon as she did that, the tiny turtle, no bigger than a deck of cards, took a giant gasp of air. 

“Talk about people going crazy,” Mrs. Yates said. “That pretty much became the routine. Bathe them for a bit, sit them down on the table, then come back in a few minutes and flip the little guy over. Some didn’t need the flip, but for others, it seemed to give them the jump start that they needed.” 

The group did this dip-and-flip routine for over an hour, until 43 of the turtles showed signs of life. Six did not make it. 

Bob Miller, Jackson Guard endangered species biologist, said the green sea turtles are just one of three threatened or endangered turtle species that they monitor on Santa Rosa Island in the sea turtle survey and monitoring program. 

Total population estimates for the green turtle are unavailable, and trends are particularly difficult to assess. From year to year, present estimates range from 200 to 1,100 females nesting on U.S. beaches. Population estimates given are for the number of nesting females in Florida. 

The wildlife officials need to know where the turtles nest are and the overall turtle population to assess the potential impacts of the Air Force mission along the Gulf, Mr. Miller said. Mother Nature, not the Air Force’s mission, has been the main challenge to the program recently. 

“The hurricanes that have hit this area wiped out a lot of the nests we were monitoring,” Mr. Miller said. “Luckily, we’ve been able to help about 86 turtles (of the 104 that hatched this season) to sea this year.” 

Mrs. Schnarr said that there were six nests that they originally started to monitor this year but Hurricane Dennis wiped out five of them. Four new nests were laid in late July and early August after Hurricane Dennis. Only one has hatched out due to the high tides from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Only two of the 10 nests laid on Eglin beaches this year have survived the storms. 

Mr. Miller credits the work of Mrs. Schnarr and the team of volunteers for overcoming these challenges. 

“Without the work of the volunteers, this release today wouldn’t have been possible,” Mr. Miller said. “They have been really great for our program.” 

Mrs. Schnarr echoed Mr. Miller’s sentiments. 

“(Oct. 27) was the best day we had for the program this season,” Mrs. Schnarr said. “We weren’t expecting any of them to even survive. It makes what we do worthwhile.” 

As for releasing the turtles out to sea, it seemed to be a happy and somber day for 
Mrs. Yates, her first release as a volunteer. 

“From day one these have been my babies,” Mrs. Yates said. “I’ve been sending out pictures and telling all my friends about them. I’m really attached to them.” 

Mr. Miller estimates that only a handful will make it to adulthood, given there are predators all around waiting to prey on the young turtles. That didn’t seem to spoil the excitement of the volunteer group. As for the tradition of naming a turtle before sending it out to sea, Mrs. Yates shared her thoughts. 

“I told my friend David I would name a few after him, so there are a couple Davids swimming out there,” Mrs. Yates said.