To inform and educate the public regarding the plight of all sea turtles and the threat of their extinction. If you love animals and you want to help the marine wild life, check out the Karin Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital in Topsail North Carolina! Whether you are going to just to visit and pay respects to our Marine life, or make a donation to help the recovering animals, the staff and wild life will be happy to see you. For information regarding hours and visitation times as well as activities please visit the Official Site to the sea turtle hospital.TURTLE TROUBLES
Sea turtles have been around for millions of years. But these days they have their share of troubles. Many get caught in fishing nets or tangled in fishing lines. Turtles are also harmed by pollution, litter and oil spills. Lights along streets and on buildings near the beach can cause problems, too. Newly hatched babies can become lost and crawl toward the artificial light instead of toward the ocean where they belong.
Most kinds of female sea turtles come ashore alone to lay eggs. But some sea turtles come onto nesting beaches in huge numbers—sometimes in the thousands!
After digging a nest with her flippers, a female leatherback lays her eggs (1). She then covers the nest with sand (2). This newly hatched baby flatback (3) is digging out of its sandy nest.
The good news is that lots of people are trying hard to help sea turtles. Many laws have been passed to protect them. In some places, for example, beach communities are required to turn off outside lights at night during nesting season. And to keep eggs safe from predators, pollution, and other dangers, people sometimes carefully dig them up and move them to "nurseries" protected by high fences.
Thanks to conservation efforts like these, sea turtle numbers are actually going up in some places. With a little luck, these ancient reptiles will be flapping through the sea for another hundred million years!
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