TURTLE EXPERIENCE AT DOMINICAL'S HACIENDA BARU - COSTA RICA

I received a phone call from a friend stating that at 4:00 pm two of the staff from the Turtle Nursery at our local Wildlife Refuge, Hacienda Baru (Dominical, Costa Rica), would be releasing recently born Olive Ridley Turtles. If I wanted to come and bring my children (Marianna McGraw and Aiden McGraw), we would be welcome to experieince this amazing act of conservation. Needless to say, we were in!

We gathered around a wheelbarrel full of hatchlings, some were moving and some were not. My four year old son was instructed not to touch the turtles that were not moving. The ones that were moving were ready to be realsesed on the beach and the non-moving not quite ready to be released. The children were allowed to hold a turtle and put it onto the sand where it "raced" other children's releasees to the freedom of the sea.











For the next month, we were invited to help look for mother turtles laying their eggs. To prevent the eggs from being stolen or damaged the eggs are brought to a egg nursery and upon hatching, released into the Pacific Ocean.

If you would like to experience an egg search or release of hatchlings you may contact Eduardo or Felipe at Hacienda Baru. Funding for this project is limited, so donations are greatly appreciated.

Contact Jack Ewing at Hacienda Baru.






Video on youtube.com

- Jessica Stokes