EMERALD ISLE, N.C. (WAVY) – As Hurricane Erin intensifies off the coast, animal lovers are worried about the nesting sea turtles along the coast.
The Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Organization is reassuring the public on their social media page that “nature can be incredible” and we shouldn’t worry about the nesting turtles.
The Virginia Aquarium agrees, adding that a sea turtle is used to challenges.
“There’s a lot of challenges. I’m not sure the hurricane is the biggest one,” said Katherine Hedgepeth with the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center. “There’s human impacts and pollution and all sorts of things that are also challenging. Then they do have a lot of predators too, at that young age.
The advice from conservationists is to not intervene and never touch a nesting sea turtle. It’s a $50,000 fine and up to a year in jail if you take it upon yourself to move them. Professionals are watching over them.
In Virginia Beach, the only nest that was at risk of hatching during the storm came out just in time to beat out Erin.
“We had a nest emerge last night,” Hedgepeth said. “Our team was on site for the emergence, so we were able to get a head count of all the turtles. Then, we’ll go out and make sure that the ones that were in there have all come out and we just do some research and tracking of those nests.”
Add to favoritesCredit: Original content published here.
