Drink Some Wine, Save Some Turtles

The Corcovado Foundation is hosting a wine-tasting event Saturday to raise money for a turtle conservation program on the OsaPeninsula, on Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast.

Program volunteers on Playa Drake, of Drake’s Bay, have worked since 2005 to move and protect eggs buried by nesting Olive Ridley sea turtles. However, a lack of funding could bring the program to an end next year unless the foundation raises $10,000, the foundation said in a statement this week.

About 85 percent of sea turtle nests on Playa Drake were removed illegally between 2003 and 2005. Turtle eggs, considered an aphrodisiac, are often sold in bars or corner stores.

Sea turtle populations worldwide are in decline, threatened not only by egg poaching, but by commercial fishing and the destruction of their habitat.

Since 2006, the number of turtle nests that survive to hatch has increased from 20 percent to 93 percent this year, the foundation said.

The Corcovado Foundation’s program not only seeks to protect turtle nests but works with the nearby communities, providing English and hospitality lessons as well as environmental education courses.

To make a donation or reserve a ticket for the Corcovado Foundation’s Saturday event, to be held at 7 p.m. at the Children’s Museum in San José, contact Francisco Delgado, 2297-3013, or by e-mail at francisco@corcovadofoundation.org.