Xel-Ha Park employees, along with their family and friends, helped close the sea turtle nesting period in a moving ceremony that freed 165 turtle young, which completed the extraordinary amount of 29,962 turtles that were helped towards the sea in their quest for survival.
This represented Xel-Ha’s 12th consecutive year of contribution to the care and preservation of sea turtles, in coordination with Flora, Fauna, and Culture of Mexico, protecting the specimens that arrive each season to nest, between the months of May and October. This year registered an census of 102 green turtle nests, from which 8,526 young hatched, as well as 425 loggerhead nests, which gave birth to 21,536 hatchlings.
This program guarantees all conditions necessary for adult turtles to lay eggs along the 300-metre-long beach, protecting the nests from predators, as well as providing safe passage for the hatchlings towards the sea. Since night is the most dangerous time for turtles, nests, and hatchlings, program supervisors are required to be on guard all night long, occasionally at great cost to their well-being. Dozens of volunteers supported this program throughout the season’s six-month period, said the head of Xel-Ha’s turtle camp, Reiner Couoh Gongora.
The releasing of turtles on behalf of Xel-Ha’s employees aims to educate and commit society to preserving our resources, especially in the case of these species specified in the NOM-59 as being in danger of extinction.
During this event, Guadalupe Quintana Pali, CEO of Flora, Fauna, and Culture of Mexico, stressed the importance of a gradually increasing conscience amongst society, concerning the urgency of protecting these endangered species, and called upon those present to perpetuate this unending task. On his behalf, Alejandro Arenas Martinez, Turtle Camp Supervisor for FFCM, presented a few statistics on the turtle watch season.
During this event, the darkness of night was fully taken advantage of, creating an environment of mysticism by arranging torches along the pathway to the beach, where participants were thrilled to free a turtle hatchling each, christening it beforehand, and verbally encouraging its survival. According to several studies, only one turtle in a thousand reaches adulthood, due to threats to their environment and the multiple predators they must face while growing up.
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