BY JIM WAYMER • FLORIDA TODAY.COM • August 21, 2008
MELBOURNE BEACH -- Turtles washed back by the hundreds Wednesday, as Fay had her way with the newly hatched.
Volunteers and residents had rescued about 300 to 400 baby sea turtles on Brevard beaches Wednesday and brought them to a nonprofit group in Indialantic. Untold numbers of turtle nests were destroyed in the storm. Eggs spilled from the dunes at Coconut Point Park in Melbourne Beach. "We have lots of exposed nests," said Nancy Yates, stranding permit holder for the of the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, a nonprofit group in Indialantic. "When it's early in the season like this we tend to get a lot of the exposed nests and hatchlings."
Most of the hatchling turtles rescued were loggerheads from Cape Canaveral, Yates said, and a few from Cocoa Beach as well. Some were green sea turtles. "We've seen a few green," she said.
"Some of them perk up and some of them don't," she said of the rescued hatchlings.
The more energetic turtles will be released in south Brevard when the waves die down, Yates said. Others will be rehabilitated at a marine center in Ponce Inlet in Volusia County.
"If they won't swim, then we have to take them to the rehab center," Yates said.
posted by JoAnn Papsidero
MELBOURNE BEACH -- Turtles washed back by the hundreds Wednesday, as Fay had her way with the newly hatched.
Volunteers and residents had rescued about 300 to 400 baby sea turtles on Brevard beaches Wednesday and brought them to a nonprofit group in Indialantic. Untold numbers of turtle nests were destroyed in the storm. Eggs spilled from the dunes at Coconut Point Park in Melbourne Beach. "We have lots of exposed nests," said Nancy Yates, stranding permit holder for the of the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, a nonprofit group in Indialantic. "When it's early in the season like this we tend to get a lot of the exposed nests and hatchlings."
Most of the hatchling turtles rescued were loggerheads from Cape Canaveral, Yates said, and a few from Cocoa Beach as well. Some were green sea turtles. "We've seen a few green," she said.
"Some of them perk up and some of them don't," she said of the rescued hatchlings.
The more energetic turtles will be released in south Brevard when the waves die down, Yates said. Others will be rehabilitated at a marine center in Ponce Inlet in Volusia County.
"If they won't swim, then we have to take them to the rehab center," Yates said.
