Turtle doesn’t care about the police

From: http://uberhumor.com/

First Baby Sea Turtles Rescued From Gulf Are Released

posted by: Sharon Seltzer
from: http://www.care2.com/

After 88 stressful days, the Gulf oil spill seems to be contained and there is good news to report about one group of animals that was threatened. With help from NASA, the first group of baby sea turtles that were part of the massive effort to save endangered wildlife from the dangerous oil-filled water was released into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Associated Press revealed that fifty-six young sea turtles were released on a beach at Canaveral National Seashore in Florida, on July 11. They were part of a group of sixty-seven eggs that were collected June 26 from a nest along the Florida Panhandle and delivered to a temperature-controlled warehouse at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for incubation.

NASA reported that twenty-two of the hatchlings were endangered Kemp’s ridley turtles while the others were loggerheads. The remaining eleven eggs from the group did not hatch.

NASA is currently caring for 1,100 eggs at the space center incubation site. This is part of an overall plan to rescue 70,000 eggs from sea turtle nests buried in the sand on beaches along Alabama and Florida before they can hatch and swim into the hazardous water.

Scientists were torn between the consequences of intervening to save the eggs or to leave them alone. They knew the stress of moving the eggs could kill some of the turtles, but if they didn’t help they realized many of hatchlings would die from the oil.

They chose to remove the eggs or run the risk of - “killing off an entire generation of an already imperiled species.”

A rescue mission of this size has never been done before so NASA scientists and the rescue teams of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA were very happy to see the first group of hatchlings doing so well.

David Godfrey, executive director of the Florida-based Sea Turtle Conservancy told the AP, “The first successful release of hatchlings brings hope that more will survive. It definitely shows that we’re on the right track.”

The turtle eggs were originally sent to NASA in their nests and gently placed in Styrofoam boxes. They were then transported in specially equipped trucks. Once at NASA the eggs were monitored around the clock until their incubation was complete. They were transferred back to the beach in the Styrofoam boxes for an evening release.

I hope you will watch this interesting video filmed by NASAtelevision about the incubation process and historic release.

Hurt Sea Turtle Gets Plastic Flippers

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August 3, 2009—A loggerhead sea turtle seemingly injured by a shark was recently fitted with "trial" prosthetics as part of efforts to give the rare animal fully functioning flippers. Video.

© 2009 National Geographic (AP)

Unedited Transcript

Yu Chan is a 20-year-old loggerhead turtle in need of assistance. A little over a year ago she became entwined in fishermens nets in the Kii channel in Japan. Her wounds indicate shed also been attacked by a shark. Shed lost half of one forelimb, and a third of the other.

She was brought to the Sea Turtle Association of Japan, which uses a salt water pond near Kobe Airport for some of their work.

Loggerhead turtles are classified by the IUCN as an endangered species.

After a period of recuperation the plan was to release the turtle back into the wild.

But some citizens of Kobe objected, saying it would be cruel to release Yu Chan back into the wild in this condition. Without her full flippers, shed be vulnerable to predators and other hazards.

SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Kamezaki Naoki, Director, Sea Turtle Association of Japan "We were thinking about releasing Yu Chan in the usual way but some of Kobe's residents objected and said that it would be cruel to release a turtle that had lost its flippers. And they were right. "

A fund was set up to help finance Yu Chan's recovery.

The Sea Turtle Association consulted Japan's largest prosthetic limb manufacturer, Kawamura Gishi and the company began work on prosthetic limbs for the turtle.

Made from a soft plastic called polypropylene, and stainless steel supports, the first prototype flippers were completed for a trial this summer.

The company makes clear that the flippers are still very much in the development stage.

SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Matsuda Yasushi, Kawamura Gishi Ltd. "We are not expecting to get everything right first time. As you can see there are several belts on the upper part of the flipper and our first priority is to make sure that we can make a secure attachment that will definitely hold. "

Ultimately they are intending to create a limb made of strengthened fiber and silicon that will be surgically attached to the turtle's body.

The trial on June 20th focused on the problem of securely attaching the prosthetic limbs to the upper section of Yu Chan's remaining flippers.

But the team encountered difficulty in securing the left flipper, which fell off on several occasions.

SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Matsuda Yasushi, Kawamura Gishi Ltd. "Ultimately attachment of the fin will not be down to us but to a veterinary surgeon who will attach the artificial flippers in a surgical operation. If we can take the project that far the problems raised by sand and water will no longer be an issue."

The project team estimates that it will be a number of years before the goal can be realized.

Turtle Has An Awesome Orgasm

Lol! Looks like he's lovin' it!