Volunteer stories
Saving The Eggs From Poachers, 13th May 2009
It was my night off and as I settled down looking forward to a full nights sleep, I had no idea what the night had in store for me!
'Wake up Wake up - you've got to see this!' came my 2am wake up call! I headed down to the beach to see what all the fuss was about and was greeted by a rare sight - instead of the usual uptrack in the sand leading to a solitary nesting turtle, there were tracks everywhere! Up tracks, down tracks, along tracks, tracks leading off into the jungle..., it was crazy!
The turtles had been up and down the beach all evening sussing out where they wanted to nest, with 2 turtles eventually nesting on the beach at the same time! The other tracks lead up into the resort where i found a group of toursits quietly watching another turtle digging right outside their challets and one more making her way around the resort. So four turtles at one time! Feeling pretty lucky to see this i sat beside the last turtle to see where she ended up.
About an hour later the bad news - Poachers had spotted the tracks and were on the beach. I went to wait with the group of toursits in the resort but as I walked over something was wrong - a man was standing on the nest (with the turtle still trying to cover it up) pushing a pole into the ground to find the softer hollow where the eggs were. It was horrible. I just couldn't believe somebody was trying to take the eggs of this endangered animal. Turtles are nervous creatures and we normally keep our distance but he just didnt care - recklessly probing the nest determined to get his prize. We tried to reason with them, explaining that what they were doing was illegal. But it was difficult - we didn't know where all the poachers were, some were hiding in the trees and with 4 turtles to protect it was becoming hard to watch all the nests. One poacher had found a turtle just about to lay and was waiting, hands ready, to catch the eggs - then the Fisheries came just in time- they enforce the law in the marine park so we called them for help and thankfully the poachers fled. The eggs were saved!
About 4 hours and 4 successful nests later finally i got to bed, safe in the knowledge that those little eggs that we just saved will in a few months time make it to become hatchlings!
Sophie, 23, England
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