Escaping Turtle Island • Rangers vs Poachers • INDONESIA

There’s no electricity, no telephone. Except for crabs, lizards, and bugs only three Indonesian rangers live on the island. They earn just over 100 US dollars a month, live in isolation and patrol for poachers.

The day begins with garbage pick up, because of all the trash which washes up: plastic bottles, cans of paint, children’s toys – The ocean has become the planet’s garbage can, harming not only turtles but all sea life. For hundreds of years, the island’s beaches have been a favorite nesting ground for sea turtles, leatherbacks and green turtles. They lay about 100 eggs at a time, but only a small amount will ever hatch, and fewer survive to maternity. Poachers and lizards threaten to steal many of the eggs, while other simply collapse under the weight of the sand.

With darkness, the island comes alive. Female turtles, sometimes dozens of them on a single night, crawl up the beach to lay their eggs in the sand of the islands beach. It takes 2 months for turtle eggs to hatch, if they hatch at all. And when they finally dig out of the sand, it’s a mad dash to the sea – as fast as possible to escape the lizards, eagles, crabs….

Without the rangers, turtle island has no protection, and without you, the rangers have no resources. Help save Turtle Island. Find out more by visiting www.haka.or.id. HAkA is an Aceh, Indonesia based NGO. Their name stands for Hutan, Alam dan Lingkungan Aceh (Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh.