Meet Casper, the newest recruit in the MCSS turtle monitoring team. Casper, a.k.a “road kill”, was rescued from the road side by Elke, on her way to releasing turtle hatchling at Intendance beach.
Casper, a.k.a “road kill”, photo Elke Talma A nest had been dug up by dogs last week on a neighbouring beach and as the eggs were due to hatch, were taken off the beach and incubated in Elke’s bathroom to save them from another dog attack.
The hatchlings started emerging on Tuesday and by Friday afternoon a total of 188 baby turtles were ready to concur the oceans. Five unfortunately, did not make it with 3 embryos dying in the egg and 2 showing no development (probably not fertilised).
Casper watched on with little interest as the hatchlings made their way down the beach. A crowd of over 30 tourist and residents had gathered on the beach to witness the event and Elke stayed on a good half hour after the last hatchling entered the water to answer questions.
An excited crowd gathers to watch hatchlings crawling to the sea, photo Elke Talma
