It's Only Common Sense

This from Sea Turtle Preservation Society volunteer, Ann Zscheile.

"I am sending you a picture of my fellow surveyor, Adrienne, in a huge hole we found on Cocoa Beach. It is not the first or the largest of holes that we have found on summer surveys. After we took this picture, we filled in the hole ( with the help of a friendly beach walker) enough so that no turtles would get trapped in it.

The next day, again on a survey, we found a hole in another area of the beach - it was approximately 2 feet deep. There were three hatchlings in there from a nest that hatched that night farther up the beach. Two of the hatchlings were still alive, but one was dead. We released the live hatchlings on the beach, and they quickly completed their journey to the ocean." (Photos courtesy of Ann Zscheile - click to enlarge)

Ann gives us these pointers for digging holes in the beach:

1. Always fill in your holes before you leave the beach.
2. Don't dig holes in the beach above the tide line (during sea turtle nesting season) - you never know if you might accidently dig into a nest and destroy 100+ eggs.
3. Use only beach tools for digging on the beach and building sand castles - garden type shovels are meant for gardens and not for the beach.
4. Deep holes in the beach are dangerous for both humans and turtles.