Tragedy Has Struck Our Sea Turtles

I never really quite grasped the idea of sea turtles until I moved to St. Kitts.  We had a professor, Dr. Kimberly Stewart, come and speak to our class in my vet prep (and 1st semester) about her research and work with the sea turtles that visit the beaches of St. Kitts when they nest.  The St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network works diligently to prevent illegal harvesting of the sea turtle species in the area (critically endangered hawksbills, leatherbacks, green sea turtles, and even the loggerhead sea turtles) that utilize the beaches of St. Kitts.  Not only has the organization helped improve legislation here in St. Kitts to protect these turtles, there are many other efforts that they take on to protect these awesome creatures.  They have helped provide education for the younger generations through awesome hands on experiences (turtle camps, ecotours, etc.), they have helped re-shape the way fishermen of the island think as well as providing alternatives to earning an income (rather than fishing for these sea turtles and wiping out viable turtles that could help sustain the populations), frequent and regular beach clean-ups that involve the students of RUSVM as well as community members, collaborative satellite tagging program of the sea turtles that visit our beaches, and so much more.

It is now more than ever that I know the importance of these species.  They have played a vital role in the health of our world's oceans for more than 100 million years!  From maintaining coral reef ecosystems to transporting essential nutrients from the oceans to beaches and coastal dunes.  With their dramatic decrease in numbers has come evidence of their importance.  What threatens them??  Commercial fishing, loss of their nesting habitat and climate change...what do all of these have in common??  They are human-caused threats and they are pushing our sea turtles towards extinction.  Without them, we will loose vital functions that they serve towards our ocean ecosystems.

What do we need to do....PROTECT and help them REBUILD their populations to ensure a healthy and resilient future for our oceans.

Protect their homes.

Protect them.

It broke my heart when I saw the headline today:  "Up to 20,000 sea turtle eggs crushed by bulldozers on Caribbean island".  What happened in Trinidad will hopefully open the eyes of those throughout the world that work to protect the world's sea turtles as well as the eyes of the public.  Our impact on these creatures is becoming more than a problem...we are destroying their chances to continue their vital relationship in our world's oceans.  I hope this kind of tragedy never strikes the sea turtle population again.  Tourism Minister of Trinidad: This must never happen again.

"It is a tragedy what happen with these turtles , I agree... and a lot of people are to be held responsible ... I hear the cries for this one throat and that one job, but check yourself ... if you are not recycling YOU are killing more that turtles DAILY ... YES DAILY !!! mistakes happens ... actually everyone make them ... but I sure do hope this will open up the minds and heart of more people about our environment ..."-Papa Bois Conservation group

"Trinidad has the second largest number of Leatherback nestings in the world. Grande Riviere is the densest nesting beach in the world, with hundreds of turtles nesting on the beach each night at the height of turtle nesting season. The village of Grande Riviere attracts thousands of turtle tourists each year and the income generated by this is a big incentive for local turtle conservation. (Marc)

The meandering of the river is a natural occurrence, but this year the course of the river was more extreme than normal. Grande Riviere villagers have described the extent of the river's changing of course as a once in a 15 year event. The meandering river had already destroyed a portion of the beach, which also happened to be the most productive section. If the river had been left to continue its
meandering course, it would have destroyed more nests and endangered the Mon Plesir Hotel, portions of which were already eroding in to the river. Local fishermen also use the river to launch their boats, an exercise which had become difficult due to the extended course of the river, and dangerous due to surf conditions at the new mouth of the
river. Clearly action was required to contain the river.

The Grande Riviere beach falls under the jurisdiction of the Trinidad & Tobago Forestry Division. The Forestry Division would have had to give permission for the works to take place.

The complaint is that stakeholders had been asking for intervention for a long time, without a response. When the response did come, it was unplanned, unsupervised, and the way in which it was done did unnecessary damage to hatchlings and nests. An earthmoving crew was left to operate, without any qualified supervision, on one of the most environmentally sensitive beaches in the world, with a D8 bulldozer and an excavator.

Clearly the "chain of command" at the beach was broken, resulting in the unsupervised action. It is important to investigate how this was allowed to happen, and to find a solution so this won't reoccur in future. What is needed is an immediate meeting between stakeholders, including the Forestry Division, the Environmental Management Authority, Turtle Village Trust, turtle protection groups, persons representing the turtle nesting communities and other stakeholders, which would result in new, effective, procedures being put in place."-Papa Bois Conservation group

 Teamwork.

 Together we can.

 RUSVM Students at work learning the ropes.

 If we don't protect them...who will?

 Community outreach here in St. Kitts.

 The job gets a little messy at times :)

 St. Kitts nesting leatherback.

 An opportunity to learn for all.

 The generation of hope for our sea turtles.

Dem Island Cats

In honor of Ting's 1st Birthday (today!) I decided to write this blog :)

When I moved out of the dorms, I decided I need a fuzzy critter (or two) to come home to.  So here are my island cats, Ting and Brutus.  Enjoy!

Baby Ting

Baby Brutus

Growing Ting

Brutus:  Just got brought to my house :)

Spayed Ting

Brutus being cute

Ting's favorite place in the apartment

Growing Brutus

Playtime together

Neutered Brutus

Study break and more belly rubs

Together forever

Late night canoodling

Playing with each other's tails...built in entertainment :)

Something has got to give...

So this semester has had its ups and definitely has had its downs for me.

First the positives...

I have a mango tree in my yard! I have been able to pick so many that I not only eat or cut up and freeze for myself, but I have given them away to lots of people who love mangos as much as I do. Can't wait for the next mango season and to take advantage of this awesome tree again :)

Josh Project is thriving! A member of RUSVM's admin team helped me draft a letter that was sent not too long ago to the officials who oversee St. Kitts customs/duty in order to hopefully receive an exemption from duty/taxes on "Josh Kits" shipped directly here. Staying hopeful that they contact me with good news soon, if not I do have one more plan of action to make this come true. Thanks to the class reps, one of my co-chairs, the professors that volunteered for the semesters, and all those that made coin/bill donations, we had the most successful coin fundraiser in the history of RUSVM's Josh Project! 7th Semester (Pink semester) took the entire event and was able to recruit Dr. St. Jean to their cause. He will be dressing up as Zorro for an entire day this semester at some point. We also sold 97 fleeces and made quite a profit from the fleece sale...I'm very happy with this. The trick will be bringing most of these back with me in suitcases and having a very good speech prepared about JP should I get caught by customs at the airport! My other co-chair and I will soon begin recruiting professors/staff members for the Professor/Staff Cook Off and get all those details ironed out in time for the event (will be held mid July). Next semester we will have frisbees at the cook off to utilize as plates (more stable then flimsy paper plates and are re-usable for future cook offs, etc.)!

I put my deposit down to go to African via Wildlife Vets in April of 2013 ($1300 USD deposit...still owe $2000 USD...flight cost is approx. ~$2700 USD). The whole trip and experience definitely are coming with a big price tag...I'm hoping to receive aid from SCAVMA via my PDF (professional development fund) points that I've accumulated since I started in Vet Prep, fundraise with a handful of others going on the trip, and put all birthday/Christmas present money from my family towards this to help with the cost. I was way too busy during undergrad between being a full-time student as well as supporting myself financially (usually working ~2 jobs) to take advantage of the awesome study abroad opportunities, so when I came here, I knew going to Africa was something I would find a way to do.

I did a necropsy this semester and reported on it with a group of classmates. This was such a cool experience. This was for my Pathology class...my favorite class this semester because it makes you put so much of the knowledge you have already acquired to use (ie. parasitology, anatomy, physiology, etc.).

Still going strong in my relationship and loving every bit of it. It feels amazing to have met someone as driven as myself in life and also someone that wants to be there and work through it all...someone that loves every aspect of who I am. If I hadn't come to RUSVM, we would never had met each other...definitely grateful for this.

"If you want something to last, you treat it differently... You shield and protect it... You never abuse it... You don't expose it to the elements... You don't make it common or ordinary... If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new... It becomes special because you made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by"

And now for the part or this semester that has taken its toll on me...

As much as I have enjoyed serving as class rep for my class, it has been overwhelmingly time consuming for me this semester. It has been a great experience being the voice of my class, guiding them to answers, and playing a huge role in the success of our fundraising events...however, I am at the point of exhaustion and have decided that I am stepping down from the role. Just like any leadership role, I have been praised for my hard work by my classmates, and I have been criticized along the way. I'm thankful for all the experiences that the role has thrown my way. I was definitely lucky to have had such a great partner in crime this semester that acted as an amazing class rep as well. However, it is now time for me to refocus...to refocus on myself, my happiness, and my academics. I struggled with the decision to let go of my responsibilities and role because I have really poured myself into it. But after a much needed meeting with a professor to seek out advice, it was very clear what I needed to do.

After four semesters of hard work, I'm definitely looking forward to letting go of the responsibilities and passing the torch to another capable individual as well as what I'll be able to accomplish with the time that I will have available from this decision.

Feeling lighter and refreshed already...