Save the Sea Turtles

Just last week, my phone rang. Several hundred olive ridley sea turtles had begun nesting at a beach a few miles from where our rangers work in Nicaragua. The female turtles were crawling onto the sand to lay their eggs in synchronicity. An incredible sight!

But the report turned dark. Dozens of people were combing the beach, standing over the turtles. As a turtle laid her nest, they dug up the eggs. It was so bad that at the end of that nesting event, 100% of the nests were destroyed and the eggs taken. The eggs were likely sold to middlemen who sell them to restaurants or wildlife traffickers. And now, thousands of sea turtles will never hatch. 

Can you send a special gift to help protect one sea turtle nest and help ensure that our community rangers start 2027 on a more solid footing?

Right now, the ranger’s lanterns are corroded from the sand and the salt water, they need new boots after hiking through the wet sand and mud all year, and they are concerned about their employment because they are some of the few locals with stable jobs and people look up to them for the environmental work they do.

***           Your gift will help us to sustain the community rangers who work tirelessly to protect sea turtles and their nests from poachers. At the beaches we cannot patrol, your donation will provide the funds needed to exchange money for eggs so that we can take the eggs to our sea turtle nurseries where they will be protected by our team of female rangers. When the baby turtles hatch in the nursery, the rangers will safely escort them to the ocean.

If our rangers cannot continue to patrol at the beaches where they currently work, groups of poachers will expand to that territory, starting these destructive practices in areas previously protected by us. Please donate as soon as you can.