PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – Sea foam laps the shore as the sun rises over the ocean. It’s 5 a.m. on a calm, beautiful morning, but the residents of Ostional aren’t out to enjoy a leisurely walk on the beach – they’re hard at work.
The turtles, which weighed between 120 and 150 kilograms, were sent to the Jaguar Rescue Center in Puerto Viejo for care, where two others have since been taken for care. Police have rescued at least seven of the ancient reptiles so far this year from poachers who capture them for their meat as they come ashore to lay their eggs.
A gang of more than 10 poachers carrying sticks, machetes and guns allegedly attacked the international volunteers on Pacuare beach, Sea Shepard Central America spokesman Jorge Serendero told The Tico Times on Friday.
MIAMI – Tens of thousands of endangered sea turtles die every year in the United States when they are inadvertently snared in shrimp nets, an environmental group alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the government.
PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – By 7 p.m., it is already impossibly dark to read the signs on buildings. Every 100 meters or so, a singular yellow street lamp illuminates a small, dim area of the dirt road. The road is bumpy and it is dangerously difficult to see the dips and holes from dried tire marks in the mud.
PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – Annual rainfall has decreased by 52 percent this year in the Guanacaste region, according to the National Meteorological Institute, affecting the hatching rates of turtles in Ostional, a mass nesting site on Costa Rica's Pacific coast for the olive ridley species.
Police arrested two men suspected of killing an endangered green sea turtle in Parismina, a fishing village on the northern Caribbean coast, on Tuesday. Law enforcement officials found the two men in a boat with a gutted mother turtle who appears to have been in the process of laying her eggs.
One normal migration for turtles, one giant discovery for humankind. With his 14-day journey from the waters of Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park to the Galapagos Marine Reserve in Ecuador, “Sanjay,” an endangered green sea turtle, established the first direct migration link between the two protected areas.
The recent eruptions of Poás Volcano in Costa Rica have significantly disrupted tourism in nearby communities, including Poás, Poasito, Fraijanes, Vara Blanca, and Los...