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Saturday, August 28, 2004 Sea turtle sets off on journey to MexicoBy NICOLE SERVICE | News-Journal Staff Writer THE HAMMOCK — Abby, a rare Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, is on her way home. At least that is what her caretakers hope. As she was returned to the ocean the morning of Aug. 19, nearly 10 months after being discovered stranded along the Massachusetts coast, their hope was she would return to the same beach in Mexico where she was born and continue the circle of life. “It’s said they always return home (to breed), and we are hoping she makes it,” said Allen McDowell, an aquarist with Walt Disney World’s Living Seas Animal Care Center in Orlando. He was one of four people from the center to release Abby into the ocean at the Washington Oaks Gardens State Park in northeast Flagler County on Thursday. State park officials were unable to attend the release because they are still cleaning messes left by Hurricane Charley, but Matt Mitchell, spokesman for the state park system, called it an honor that the release was at our state park. “It’s a testament to (Washington Oaks) that that they chose that spot,” Mitchell said. The park is a favored spot for releasing turtles, Mitchell said, because there are no lights and it’s very quiet. Abby’s journey in the wild was cut short last November when she found herself trapped in the cold waters off Massachusetts. Rescued by members of a local Audubon Society, she arrived at a clinic in New England suffering from dehydration and a bone disease in one of her flippers. In June, the 5-year-old turtle arrived at the center in Orlando, which has nursed more than 200 endangered sea turtles back to health since 1986. McDowell said even though it would be another five years before Abby reaches breeding age, her return to the wild is very important because the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle has been on the Endangered Species since 1970 – marine biologists estimate there are only about 1,000 nesting females in the world. “It’s just important that we get as many of these out into the wild as possible,” McDowell said. The smallest species of sea turtle – it’s about 100 pounds full grown – the Kemp’s Ridley is named for Richard M. Kemp, a Key West fisherman who submitted the specimen in the early 1900s. Feeding mostly on crabs, experts believe the species’s only nesting site is the Gulf coast of Rancho Nuevo in northeastern Mexico. The major threats are man-made: loss of nesting habitat and death by drowning in shrimp trawlers’ nets. McDowell said the good news is that under strict protection, the population appears to be in the early stages of recovery. Experts attribute the recovery to two primary factors: full protection of nesting females and their nests in Mexico, and the requirement to use turtle excluder devices in shrimp trawls both in the United States and Mexico. As McDowell and his colleagues turned from the ocean unable to see Abby, who had dipped beneath the waters, McDowell smiled. “I think she has a good chance of making it,” he said. On the net: HICI Special Report — Sea Turtles Need Help: Can you Dig it? |
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