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Volunteers help wildlife affected by the oil spill

On one stretch of Gulf coast, volunteers are doing their bit for the wildlife affected by the oil spill. They are collecting thousands of newly laid turtle eggs, in an attempt to give the hatchlings a better chance of survival by releasing them away from the spill site.

While BP makes desperate attempts to fit a new spill containment cap onto the leaking riser in the Gulf of Mexico, hundreds of volunteers are helping with the wildlife clean-up operation. It is still unknown what affect the spilled oil will have on the wildlife in the Gulf, but at least some sea turtles will stand a chance. The eggs are being collected and tightly packaged into special containers that are being transported to the Kennedy Space Centre where the eggs will hatch. The hatchlings will then be released at different sites in the Atlantic Ocean, far away from the spill but also far away from their natural habitat.

Whilst this will mean that the rate of survival for these hatchlings will increase, it unfortunately does not bode well for the population of turtles on the beaches where the eggs were retrieved. When mature, sea turtles always return to the same beaches where they were hatched many years before, meaning the beaches around the Gulf where the eggs are being taken may see a significant reduction of returning sea turtles in the future.

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