I was a volunteer for Fish & Wildlife on Pueto Rico. We would sit and watch for the turtles to come ashore and lay eggs. We would then measure the turles, dig up the eggs and move them to the Navy Base that was still open to protect the eggs from people stealing them.
Very cool! My cousin just retired from Fish & Wildlife. When she lived in Florida she'd fly around counting animals in the Keys.
So when the eggs grew up and returned, which place would they go?
What was done for hatching? I was told that sea turtle hatchlings needed the experience of crawling across the beach into the water, or else they wouldn’t be able to find their way back to the beach to lay eggs.
You are right....the eggs were place on a BEACH area of the former Roosevelt Roads navy base....there was an UNMARKED building near where the eggs were reburied....the building housed the NAVY SEALS and so NO ONE was stupid enough to try to steal the eggs...the turtles come back to that very beach.
Why would people steal them? Pets?
same old shit...the eggs, which back in '89 sold for $4 each, are thought to be an aphrodisiac. So as a former Combat Vet, I was allowed to have a Weapon to guard the volunteers for when the turtles came ashore...THEN we moved the eggs to the Navy Base so no one could dig them up.
Unfortunately a lot of Caribbean islands still hunt them for food
If they are caught doing so on Puerto Rico they get at least a 20 year prison sentence, and a prison on Puerto Rico is not like the ones in the USA mainland....