around the world people are now devoting
their lives
to saving some of the most threatened
sea creatures
as here in the caribbean every year
on just a few islands a remarkable event
takes place
as the sun sets giant
reptiles begin to emerge
this magnificent creature preparing
whoops preparing to lay her eggs
is the largest of all turtles
a leatherback they can grow up to
half a ton in weight and they have an
ancestry that goes back
100 million years to the age of the
dinosaur
but in recent times their numbers have
fallen
catastrophically here however in the
caribbean
there is hope
leatherback turtles leave the sea in
order to lay their eggs
in the dry sand
but out of water these huge creatures
are easy targets for hunters
in a small fishing village in trinidad
len
peters has experienced this firsthand
i grew up in a household where the
presence of filter meat was normal
the fridge is always full of it
everybody everybody harvested turtles
including my parents
it’s only when i became exposed to
things that were being published about
leather basically on the boards of
extinction and nobody cares
that piqued my interest len
took the leatherback’s future into his
own hands
he began patrolling the beach at night
to protect the turtles
a brave thing to do
we were met with tremendous resistance
people would pelt us at night
i have had persons um insult me and my
heart person
cursed me or that person physically
tried to to
wrestle me look at that machete so it
was really a hostile time back then
if len was going to save these turtles
he needed to win over the whole
community
we had to find a way to get the
villagers to benefit
from the presence of these animals
he began to encourage tourists to visit
the beach
and train some villagers to be their
guides
to help secure the turtle’s future he
took the message
to the next generation now what’s
what’s the largest size a leatherback
can grow to
ah shawnee
that’s correct leatherbacks can grow to
2
000. that’s a big tool
len’s hard work paid off and now
attitudes have changed
i just want to touch base tonight
it took us a while to reach out to the
villagers
but gradually we got them involved as
well we got some of the poachers who
would be hunting the animals
to be part of the conservation program
as well as protecting the adult turtles
the team
also collect any eggs that might be
flooded at high tide
if the eggs are laid too close to the
sea we
relocate the eggs and we bury them
thanks to the efforts of this community
these turtles have had an extraordinary
change in fortune
this is now thought to be one of the
densest leatherback nesting beaches in
the world
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when we started at the height of the
nesting season the numbers will be
30 40 totals a night now it’s over 500.
so we have seen
an increase from 40 turtles to 500 of
those a night
in just around 20 years
precious new hatchlings are also given a
helping hand
any that emerged during the day are
collected
to be released safely back to the sea
away from hungry birds
this little leatherback will have to
face
a thousand hazards before it returns as
an adult
to this beach where it hatched
and those dangers will be greatly
increased
because of damage that we have done to
the oceans
good luck little leatherback
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you
