AMAZING Turtle find!!
Turtles are wonderful and sacred 💜 Most turtles lay their eggs in holes dug in sand, far enough from the waterline that the clutch isn't in danger of being drowned or washed away by fluctuating water levels. The problem with this is that most public beaches are ideal spots for a mother turtle to lay her eggs.
If you come across a mother turtle laying eggs in a place where people hang out, here is what to do:
1. Leave her alone! It's fine to observe her from a distance, but she needs to lay those eggs one way or another and crowding her space will only stress her out.
2. Keep other people and animals away from her! Well-meaning but uneducated adults, off-leash dogs, or curious kids, are all potential dangers to both the mother turtle and the eggs. You can help by making sure that other's honor the turtles space and safety.
3. Note where exactly the clutch is and phone your local wildlife office to report it (bonus points if you do this first). Many rural municipalities have turtle-based conservation programs. If a clutch is laid in a high-traffic area, a wildlife rep will come in and take the eggs back to their base. Once there, the eggs are placed in an incubator and hatched out. Once the babies have hatched, they will be returned to the wild. Your wildlife office may even host "turtle release days" in which members of the public are able to participate in releasing the babies (I've done this a few times and it's amazing). If you have to leave the area before a conservation specialist shows up, you can mark the location of the clutch with whatever you have on hand, just be careful to not stab anything into the ground or otherwise disturb the site. If you don't have anything on hand, you can still mark the clutch. After the mother has laid the eggs, buried them, and left the site, you can carefully draw a circle in the sand around the clutch; you can even write something like "caution: turtle eggs" beside the circled area. This is very important because it is almost guaranteed that eggs in a busy area will be damaged or destroyed.
Drop a 🐢 if you love turtles as much as I do 💜
