Phil Gutis's Blog
A Turtle Visits Miami Beach
August 20, 2007
Posted by Phil Gutis in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I won't go to Canada. Even though I'd love to experience Montreal and head west to Victoria and see the country's natural splendor, I refuse to give the Canadian government one cent of this tourist's dollar.
Why? Baby seals of course. When it comes to animals, I'm a classic softie. From my own menagerie of six dogs and a dogcat named Max to the newly born seals, my heart shreds quickly when I think of animal suffering.
I suppose that's why, a few years ago, I called 911 when I saw a giant sea turtle emerge from the ocean and crawl up the sands of Miami Beach. Yes, Miami Beach. I was there for an ACLU staff conference and decided to take a solitary stroll along the beach in the early evening. (There's nothing like a hotel full of civil libertarians to make you yearn for some peace and quiet!)
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very big dark shape emerge from the Atlantic. Once I started to breathe again, I realized it was a massive sea turtle and watched with amazement as it moved quickly up the beach, turned itself around to face the water and then just sat there.
My first thought was that it must be sick. Why else would a turtle emerge from the ocean in Miami Beach? And what do you do when you stumble upon a hurt being? Well, you call 911. So I rushed up to one of the hotels and ran for a phone, only to discover that someone had beat me to it and had already called the authorities.
By the time I got back to the beach, the turtle had started digging. And it dug and dug and dug, probably for 30 minutes or more. Then suddenly the eggs started to emerge. Dozens of them.
Soon a crowd had gathered and a truck from the Florida Marine Patrol showed up. As we watched for more than an hour as the turtle laid her eggs and then energetically covered the nest and finally crawled back to the sea, the Marine Patrol staff explained why they would dig up the nest as soon as the turtle left and transport the eggs to an undeveloped section of the beach.
Turns out that when turtles hatch, they are programmed to head for the glimmers of light that form on the crest of waves. But in Miami Beach, the patrol staff explained, the hatchlings get confused and head instead for the lights of the hotels and inevitably drown in the pools.
(They even had a brochure called Turtle Tracks that they gave those of us watching the turtle lay her eggs. And when one of the marine staff found out that I had actually seen the turtle emerge from the ocean, he looked amazed. In 20 plus years of working with turtles, he said, he had never seen one come out of the ocean!)
I was pleased that Florida invested in a Marine Patrol to give these endangered animals a better chance of survival. What with all the political controversy that endlessly surrounds the sunshine state, you don't necessarily think of Florida as a place that cares about wildlife.
Until that night. Since then, I've been back to Florida many times. The state has earned my tourist dollar. Canada, are you listening?
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