This week’s stormy weather in Manatee County is causing some problems for baby sea turtles.
The Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch group reports due to high winds and waves, the hatchlings are struggling to make it from their nests to sea.
They’re being pushed back on land and not making it.
This is leading to volunteers going up and down the beaches to try and save them.
While the group normally only asks their volunteers to handle the baby turtles, they’re now reaching out to the public for some help.
They want anyone who finds a hatchling going in the wrong direction, or that looks distressed, to grab them and bring them to the Holmes Beach Police Department.
“If you see them in an endangered area, not if they are going towards the water, but if you see them going in the opposite direction, then we are looking for some help,” said William Tokajer, Chief of the Holmes Beach Police Department.
A cooler is now located in the hallway in the back of the police department to collect the hatchlings.
“Now the people have a place to bring the turtles if they do find them,” said Tokajer. “We can keep them in a safe area until turtle watch can pick them up and make sure they’re properly taken care of.”
Volunteers said the reason the baby turtles cannot be released back to the water is because they only have a small amount of energy,
As a result, the hatchlings are being taken to Mote Marine Aquarium and Laboratory in Sarasota for care.
Once they are eating and growing, they’ll be taken to the gulf and released.
Volunteers said if you put them in the water soon after being found, they will most likely die or be eaten.
The cooler will be left at the Holmes Beach Police Department through the weekend.
The Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch group wants to remind everyone to not use flashlights on the beach or go out at night to look for hatchlings because you could step on them.
The police department is open 24-hours a day.
For more information, call: Anna Maris Island Turtle Watch & Shorebird Monitoring 941-778-5638