21 young turtles returning home to Louisiana barrier island

These turtle eggs were turned up about a year ago, when restoration crews supervised by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration furrowed the island to ensure that no ground-nesting shorebirds would be laying eggs there, said Keri Landry, an endangered species biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

She said dredged sediment was to be layered over the island, which would have buried the turtles’ nests about 2 feet (0.60 metres) deep, far beyond a hatchling’s ability to escape.

The crews turned up 10 or 12 nests over a week’s time, roping off each so Landry could collect the eggs. When she did, she marked each egg to show which end was up.

“After maybe a day or so, if you roll them, they’re not going to be viable,” said Stephen Creech, who hatched and raised the eggs. He said he and wife Rachael, owners of Adventure Pets in Mandeville, received 31 from Dave and Karen Milliken, whose incubators held the eggs for about a week last July.

Twenty-four hatched in August, and three hatchlings died. The rest have been growing since then in 150-gallon (568-litre) tubs with shallow brackish water, rocks and oyster shells for them to climb on, and ultraviolet lights and heated water to keep them warm.

“They’re beautiful. Mostly black and tan. Their heads are grey,” he said.

Creech says he also has a 10-inch-long (25-centimetre-long) full-grown female but plans to return her to the breeder who gave her to him.

He said he’d love to keep her in the pond in front of his store, “but she keeps chomping on my koi.”

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This story has been corrected to fix the number of eggs received, the spelling of Rachael and the length of time the Millikens’ incubator held the eggs.

Janet McConnaughey, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

21 young turtles returning home to Louisiana barrier island

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