A gravid sea turtle was found dead and its fertile eggs were safely kept in a hatchery by volunteers of FSL India and Forest Department personnel on Saturday evening at Kodi Beach near Kundapura, Udupi district.
According to Dinesh Saranga from FSL-Kundapura, the turtle was found dead on Kodi Beach. Conservationists from FSL, Reef Watch and personnel from the Forest Department upon examination found that it had a deep wound on its mouth.
The turtle may have been hit by the propeller of a fishing vessel leading to its instantaneous death, the activists assumed. It was gravid with fertile eggs. Activists retrieved as many as 124 eggs and safely transferred them to a hatchery created on the beach, Mr. Saranga said.
Volunteers and the department personnel would keep close watch round-the-clock on the hatchery till the last egg hatches and the hatchlings reached the sea, he said. Tejaswini and team from Reef Watch, Raghavendra Vandse and Ranjith from the Forest Department, social workers Kodi Ashok Poojari, Babu Mogaveera and Sangeetha, were part of the rescue team with Mr. Saranga.
