Cop Saves Sea Turtle Hatchlings At Florida Resort

[Are_grits_groceries]

SARASOTA, Fla. -- A Florida police officer saved nearly 100 baby sea turtles when he gathered the newly hatched creatures from a hotel parking lot and street and released them into the Gulf of Mexico.

Sarasota Officer Derek Conley was on patrol at 1 a.m. Saturday when he saw sea turtle hatchlings crawling toward the front door of the Lido Beach Resort. A passerby also told Conley that several dozen other baby turtles were walking around the hotel's parking lot.

Conley, along with some resort guests, scooped up the hatchlings in a box and released them into the water.

"I began collecting hatchlings from the street and stopped traffic several times to do so," wrote Conley in a report.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/cop-saves-sea-turtle-hatc_n_3722058.html

Good on him!

[marble falls]

1. A nice cop. Big deal.

[KurtNYC]

2. 1 AM is when they hatch and these were headed in the wrong direction

By ancient instincts they hatch at night when it is hardest for their predators (birds) to see them. Then they crawl toward the brightest spot in the sky. Until electric lighting, the brightest spot would be the over water because the moonlight reflects off the water. But now this same instinct can have the babies walking toward casinos, shopping centers and other brightly lit places.

Like some aquatic version of Cinderella, these babies have a time limit. If they don't make it to the ocean by day break they are pretty much doomed. And walking across roads or parking lots is especially dangerous once the morning traffic starts up.