Tiny creatures, hardly few inches in length, looking frail ventured out for the first time into the Bay of Bengal nudged on by helping hands. Chairperson of Blue Cross and actor Amala Akkineni watched with concern and helped a few of the Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings that had overturned when released from a basket by Forest Department staff from a hatchery on the Ramakrishna Beach here on Thursday.
The turtles were released before dawn to ensure that they would have covered some distance into the sea before daybreak and thus protect themselves from the swooping predators.
The tiny one looked like oversized insects and crawled into the water and rode the receding waves to make their first entry into the Bay of Bengal. The eggs of the Olive Ridley turtles are shifted into a protected rookery where they are flagged and after they hatch they are released into the sea.
The officials of the Forest Department officially released the hatchlings into the Bay of Bengal with District Collector N. Yuvaraj, Additional Principal Conservator of Forests R. G. Kalaghatgi and Additional PCCF Pratheep Kumar leading the way.
