HELP ME SAVE THE SEA TURTLES OF INDONESIA!
Dear friends, family and followers,
I need your help. I was led to the Gili islands by one birthday wish: to swim with a sea turtle. Today, snorkeling off the coast, it happened. As I floated on the top of the water out in the distance, I saw one and swam to it. We glided together through the water, checking each other out. He was huge, probably 2 feet across and was missing his left front fin. When his eyes met mine, I knew I was in the presence of something eternally sacred and infinitely important. It was one of the most special moments of my life. As fate would have it, that moment led me to a man named Boulong.
Sea turtles numbers are dropping right before our eyes. Most species are endangered or threatened. People who live on islands known for sea turtles have begun to notice. Boulong, a local man from Gili Meno, has dedicated his life and every penny he has to the local sea turtles. On an island where if you make $100 a month, you have a good job, he spends about $10 a day to take care of turtle hatchlings. Other locals call him crazy for trying to help, but he doesn’t care. He harvests the turtle eggs and buys them off of farmers who were going to eat them or sell them on the black market. The turtles are then raised and released once they are large enough to fend off most natural predators. Without Boulong’s efforts, almost all of them would not have been given the chance to make it to sea. While staring down into his tanks as the sweet baby turtles swim around, that thought is a hard one to bear.
On an island so beautiful lies an ugly truth. These turtles are disappearing. Only about 0.1% of babies that hatch make it to the sea and most of those don’t make it to breeding age. With new threats to adults like plastic bags, fishing nets and boat propellers introduced by humans, this sensitive species is diminishing. It is people like little sweet Boulong that are making the difference and trying to help boost populations once again.
The Green sea Turtles and the Caretta Caretta or Loggerhead Turtles are common to the waters of the Gili islands off the northern shores of Lombok. Growing to a diameter of approximately 1.5 meters, their shells have marking which allows identification of the turtle species. Turtles live an average of 80 to 90 years.
Running between the island of Lombok and Bali, The Wallace Line is the meeting of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. A great number and variety of turtles are found visiting this part of the world, from as far away as Mexico and South America, due to the meeting of theses two great bodies of water and the various ocean currents within with the turtles swim. All species of turtle have been specified as endangered as per International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
Turtles have been in existence for over 150 million years. They are survivors who have adapted to continue to live where dinosaurs became extinct. The purpose of the turtle sanctuary here in Gili Meno is to save the turtle eggs from predators; permit them to hatch naturally and then to raise the young turtles for one year before releasing them safely into the sea. Injured turtles will also be cared for until they are well enough to be released back into the sea.
The turtles are fed every two hours from sunrise till sun set, a diet of fresh raw fish, which is caught by our volunteers when time permits, otherwise the fish is purchased from local fishermen. The water of the turtle tanks is changed every three days with fresh salt water pumped in from the sea.
Turtles breed every 1 to 5 years with the average being once every two years. Nesting occurs in summer / autumn and a single female lays several batches of eggs in a 2 to 3 week intervals. She comes ashore under cover of darkness, often at the same place where she entered the sea birth. She digs a hole using her hind flippers. After disposing 50 to 150 eggs in her nest she hides them with a covering of sand. Incubation differs dependent on the turtle species but the average time is 2 months. Mortality of the eggs and hatchlings is very high. Besides man, nest robbers include ghost crabs, dogs, cats, monitor lizards, foxes, monkeys, etc.
Hatching occurs at night. After emerging from the nest, young turtles run the gauntlet in their dash to the sea being hunted by birds overhead. Only a few make it to the sea. Those that make it to the sea are not free of danger, having to survive large fish and sharks from below and the birds of prey from above. Life is not easy fro the young turtles.
In the early stages of their lives, turtles are carnivores, feeding on small swimming and bottom feeding organisms such as jelly fish, tunicates, sponges, soft corals, crabs, squids and fish. They shift to a vegetarian diet as they mature with the adult turtles feeding on sea grasses and algae. A turtle reaches maturity after about fifty years.
In recent years the turtle population has decreased due to global warming, over fishing and the development of the beaches where the turtles lay their eggs. The largest threat to turtles is man. They are caught for food; both their eggs and their meat. They are the harvested for the oils produced from them to be used in the cosmetic industry and in the manufacture of medications. The shells are sought for the making of jewellery.
They are drowned in fishing nets and are victims to pollution in many forms. The increasing waste of plastics offers a big threat as the turtles mistake the discarded plastic for food and once ingested it blocks the turtle’s breathing and digestive passages. Otherwise, natural enemies for the adult turtles are a few and include some large fish, killer whales and sharks.
Presently the turtle sanctuary has over a hundred adult and baby turtles plus those located in other associated sanctuaries on the other side of the island of Gili Meno and expected to hatch in the next months. We are desperately looking for donations to build new ponds to house the new hatching and to feed the growing numbers.
He needs your help. Desperately. Make a small sacrifice and donate to Boulong to help him feed and rehabilitate these turtles. He also needs funds to build more ponds for the babies. His humble facilities are growing cramped from the demand and growing number of turtles that need help. It doesn’t matter if you have $1 or $100, anything and everything is needed.
You can make a difference in the lives of these majestic animals through people like Boulong. If you can’t donate, just pass this on. To your friends, to your friends friends. I can’t wait to see what we can do!
Below is my Paypal link. I will check it in a few days and any money donated, I will withdraw and take directly to Boulong myself! Your money will go directly to the turtles :) I will make sure to keep everyone updated throughout the process.
See his webpage here. More than 1,000 turtles have been saved by him in 2008 and 2009 alone.
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