Karnataka: Turtle hatchlings make their way to sea

UDUPI: About 96 olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings have made their way to the sea near Kodi Light House, Kundapur, till Sunday evening. Dinesh Saranga, chief coordinator FSL-India, told TOI that this year, the first hatchlings to emerge were from nesting site number two.
Hatchery number two was important because the nesting site was destroyed by dogs and the volunteers managed to save 96 eggs on December 18. Of the 96 eggs, 36 hatchlings have emerged and the rest have been destroyed. It is unfortunate that despite efforts to protect 136 eggs from a gravid sea turtle that was found dead in the last week of November, the eggs failed to hatch, said Saranga.
Meanwhile, since Thursday, hatchlings emerged from the fourth hatchery. On Thursday, 36 hatchlings emerged, followed by five the next day and 19 on Saturday. Volunteers at the beach along with the forest department are closely monitoring the nesting site. So far, 17 sea turtle nesting sites have been reported.