MEXICO-TURTLES-RELEASE

About 300 Olive Ridley(Golfina) turtle hatchlings wait in a box on the beach at the Presidente Intercontential Hotel in San Jose Del Cabo, BCS, Mexico, shortly before release into the ocean 16 Oct 2006 near the nests staff members dug months ago and filled with captured unhatched turtle eggs. The biologist led turtle program sends scouts like out on nightly patrols to find female turtles laying eggs in their natural nesting areas on the beaches of San Jose del Cabo, tags the mother and returns her to the sea and then takes her eggs to a protected hatchery where chances of hatching are greatly improved. The turtle hatchery releases about 30,000 turtles a year with local citizens and tourists participating in the release of hundreds and hundreds of hatchlings a day in October, the peak month for the Olive Ridley(Golfina) turtle. Unfortunately, only 1-in-1000 baby turtles survive the wilds of the ocean after being released, but the Mexican government sponsored program with the cooperation of over 20 local hotels has greatly increased the odds of the eggs even hatching. The female turtle can have up to 5 nests a year, with about 100 eggs each time, and she returns to the same place on the beach each time. AFP Photo Paul J. Richards (Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)