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I've
always loved turtles. When I was a little boy, I had turtle figurines,
turtle posters, turtle toys, and even a turtle ashtray. (I have since
quit smoking.) Every spring, my dad would take me to Caddo
Lake to rescue hatchling red-eared sliders from being squashed
on the roads as they crossed over headed to the water. It was kind
of like collecting Easter eggs, salmonella and all.
I'm not sure where my enthusiasm for turtles comes from. Maybe I consider
them kindred spirits of sorts. They're unathletic, they kind of have
a dad bod, they seem to prefer avoiding conflict, and they have that
annoying flaccid skin under their chin that makes their neck look
like a distended tube sock (ok, maybe that's just mine). So when my
family and I were on vacation at South
Padre Island recently, I jumped at the chance to witness a release
of newly hatched Kemp's ridley sea turtles by Sea Turtle, Inc., an
organization devoted to the conservation of all marine turtle species-and
to the sleep deprivation of turtle-crazed tourists. |
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The turtles
must hatch within an hour of the release time
Jase Graves
photo, June 2017 |
The public viewings
of baby turtle releases are announced at 6:00 AM on Facebook, Twitter
and (for those living in a 1980's time warp) an answering machine
recording at the Sea Turtle, Inc. Hatchling Hotline. In order for
the release to take place, the turtles must hatch within an hour of
the release time, so there is always a possibility that the release
won't happen as expected. On the first morning of our vacation, this
is exactly what happened. After being awakened at 5:55 AM by my alarm
playing Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and frantically calling
Sea Turtle, Inc. repeatedly, only to hear a busy signal, I resorted
to Facebook and received the dreaded news.
Apparently, the anticipated baby turtles had all heard there was a
midnight madness sale on algae and hatched in the wee hours of the
morning. When I saw the Facebook post announcing that there would
not be a daybreak release, it was as if Chick-fil-A had discontinued
the chicken biscuit and replaced Diet Dr. Pepper with something unspeakable
like Mr. Pibb just as I arrived at the drive thru on my way to work.
This experience was especially painful, not only because I feared
that I might have missed my only chance to witness a hatchling release,
but because for me, getting up at 6:00 AM for no good reason is akin
to having a colonoscopy performed by a charging rhinoceros.
Fortunately, the announcement also indicated that another release
was possible the next morning, which meant that I would be going for
a personal record of two consecutive 6:00 AM wake-ups during a vacation-not
something to be proud of, in my opinion. After spending the rest of
the day distracting ourselves on the beach and, due to some expired
sunscreen, broiling ourselves until we looked like a family of giant
pepperonis, we went to bed and waited.
Sure enough, the early morning announcement came that there would,
indeed, be a release, so we peeled our sunburned skin from the sheets
like Fruit Roll-Ups and scrambled out of the condo to the car for
the short drive to the release point. When we arrived, we joined about
100 other bleary-eyed folks on the shore and watched while the Sea
Turtle, Inc. staff brought out two large Styrofoam ice chests. For
a moment, I was hopeful they might serve us all breakfast, but soon
I realized that the containers were brimming with baby turtles. A
staff member even brought one of the hatchlings around so that everyone
in the crowd could get a close-up look. From the "Awww's" coming from
the audience, you would have thought that we were gazing upon an especially
cute human infant, rather than a freshly hatched reptile that resembled
a charcoal briquette with flippers. I have to admit that they were
pretty adorable as they scampered toward the shoreline, probably trying
to get away from my morning breath. |
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They scampered
toward the shoreline
Jase
Graves photo, June 2017 |
The last little
turtle plopped into the glistening waves
Jase Graves
photo, June 2017 |
When the last
little turtle plopped into the glistening waves, a cheer erupted from
the crowd, and I actually had tears in my eyes from the beauty of
the experience-and the searing pain of my sunburned belly button.
I later learned that of the thousands of baby Kemp's ridley turtles
released by Sea Turtle, Inc. each year, only around one percent survive
to be old enough to shave. Virtually every marine predator has a taste
for baby sea turtles (apparently, they are the bacon of the ocean),
and without help from organizations like Sea Turtle, Inc., far fewer
would make it.
So if you're ever in South
Padre Island during the summer, I strongly recommend that you
take the drastic step of getting up early at least once for this amazing
event. Just be sure to have a Tic Tac first.
© Jase Graves
"Quips and Salsa" July
15, 2017 column
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