Keepers of the Sea Turtle Maternity Ward

For sea turtles that live in the Pacific Ocean near Mexico, it’s not spilled oil that’s hastening their extinction — it’s poachers.

Although the Mexican government began imposing $16,000 fines 20 years ago for killing turtles or trafficking their eggs, the country has one of the highest rates of turtle poaching in the world.

Near Acapulco just last week, six men were caught transporting 3,756 eggs from Olive Ridley turtles, which are protected under Mexican law.

Of the seven sea turtle species in the world, six return to Mexico’s northwestern beaches to lay eggs. All six species are in danger of becoming extinct, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Fortunately the turtles that nest along those beaches have guardian angels in the form of nature lover Oscar Aranda and the conservation group he founded, La Sociedad Ecológica del Occidente (also known as Vallarta Rescue).

From June through December — prime nesting season — Aranda and his volunteers watch over the shorelines where the turtles lay their eggs.

Arando, who had studied biology in college, committed to helping save the turtles a decade ago, after he came across a dismembered sea turtle in a bucket. The turtle's heart was still beating. "When you see how the people kill [sea turtles] and how they are just using them for their meat and eggs — it's sad," he told CNN, which has declared Arando a hero and dubbed him the "unofficial keeper of the sea turtle maternity ward."

"The sea turtles have been here since the dinosaurs," Arando said. "Turtles are basically the link between the land and the ocean, and that movement is very important for many animals."

Apparently the poachers don’t care about this importance, since their main concern is financial gain, right? Not necessarily, according to Aranda. The sea turtles are slaughtered because their eggs, which sell for only about 50 cents apiece, are believed to be aphrodisiacs. And it’s not easy to dispel cultural customs and superstitions that have been around for generations. Aranda said people "have seen their parents and their grandparents eating them, and it's a way of thinking that is very hard to change."

Maybe if the poachers got their hands off the eggs and onto a copy of a 2004 World Wildlife Fund report, they might consider a much kinder — and more lucrative — way to make a living. The report concluded that sea turtles are worth more alive than dead. Marine turtle tourism actually brings in more bucks than the sale of turtle products. Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica, the largest site of this kind, rakes in about $6.7 million each year. But the declining sea turtle population begets declining jobs, tourism and economies — particularly in developing countries, where two-thirds of all sea turtles live.

Armado and his volunteers are doing everything they can to curtail that decline. He said a good night is any night when a single turtle is saved. Volunteers clear a path for the pregnant turtle to come ashore, dig a hole and lay her eggs. When the turtle returns to the sea, the volunteers carefully dig out the eggs and take them to the CasaMagna Marriott Resort, which has donated hatchery space in exchange for Aranda's group providing guests with conservation lessons and the opportunity to help release the baby turtles during sunset ceremonies. Sounds like an ideal trade-off to me.

In the six years since Armando started the conservation group, more than half a million baby turtles’ lives have possibly been spared. The nonprofit group relies solely on donations to continue its efforts. You can help these guardian angels keep their wings by visiting their website.

Photo credit: NOAA Photo Library