This is an important announcement sent by Marydele Donnelly of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. The Marine Turtle Conservation Act has supported more than 100 sea turtle projects around the world, including the Marine Turtle Newsletter and SEATURTLE.ORG.

Due to a series of delays this year, citizen lobbying for U.S. appropriations in support of the Marine Turtle Conservation Act (MTCA) and other Multinational Species Conservation Funds (MSCF) for some of the world’s most charismatic species has only just begun. The deadline for Congressional signatures on a letter to Interior Appropriations in support of MSCF programs is Wednesday, March 17^th.

Around the world, these programs make a huge difference to conserve marine turtles, rhinos, tigers, great apes, African and Asian elephants and neo-tropical migratory birds.

Please consider sending an electronic letter or making a call to your Congressional Representative asking that he/she support appropriations for these small but critically important funds by signing a letter to Interior Appropriations. More information, and the opportunity to send a letter, are provided on CCC’s website. The office of your Representative can be reached through the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121.

The MTCA was passed in 2004. Since 2005, it has provided 113 grants totaling $ 3.733 million to marine turtle conservation programs outside theUnited States and leveraged an additional $5.946 million in matching or in-kind funds. As many of you in our community live in the Southeast, we are asking for your help in encouraging your congressional Representatives to sign a letter to Interior Appropriations by the March 17^th deadline.

As constituents and interested citizens, your calls make a huge difference. Remember, in addition to everything else the MTCA supports, it also provides critical funding for the International Sea Turtle Symposium. This year Members of Congress signing the letter to Interior Appropriations will be requesting $2.5 million for the MTCA.

Posted by Michael Coyne at 02:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rush Limbaugh Seriously Considering Founding Turtle Preservation Society

(Disclaimer: these quotes may be slightly out of context, a practice Limbaugh approves of but rarely warns listeners of when practiced on his show)

Radio star Rush Limbaugh is worried about sea turtles and is doing something about it. He and his neighbors in Florida know that just one light can kill thousands of sea turtles. "Giant sea turtles lumber out of the ocean, they trundle up to the beach, they dig the nest, they lay the eggs, and they trundle back to the ocean", says Limbaugh. "And then some weeks later the hatchlings hatch and they burrow up out of the sand and they are supposed to go to the ocean." But, says Limbaugh, "lights on the beach distract the hatchlings and cause them not to go to the ocean but inland. So, those of us who live on the beach have to turn the lights off."

Continue reading "Sign Lights Out for Rush Limbaugh Sea Turtle Pledge" »

Posted by Michael Coyne at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Use these widgets to easily add dynamic content from the News database on seaturtle.org to your own website. Get the latest news, updated automatically, by copying and pasting the code below in to your web page.

Latest Headlines

<script language="JavaScript"> var newswidth=460; //set to desired width of news widget in pixels var newsbgcolor='#CFC'; //set to desired background color of news widget var newscolor='#000'; //set to desired text color of news widget var newsborder='#090'; //set to desired border color of news widget var newsdelay=5000; //set to desired delay between news rotations (in milliseconds) var newsfont=12; //set to desired font size </script> <script src="http://www.seaturtle.org/jslib/headlines.js" language="JavaScript"></script>
copy and paste code to your web page

Continue reading "Sea Turtle News Widgets" »

Posted by Michael Coyne at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is absolutely NO truth to the rumors running amok on the interwebs that Apple is in talks with SEATURTLE.ORG to put sea turtle data on Apple's anticipated tablet device expected to be announced tomorrow. We also do not expect the rumored device to be called a SeaPad!

However, SEATURTLE.ORG does run on an Apple Xserve and the website, content and tools are developed almost exclusively on a 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro and a 24-inch iMac. So chances are pretty good that any new Apple device will eventually make it's way to the SEATURTLE.ORG home office, where, it is safe to say, it will be used to save sea turtles.

Posted by Michael Coyne at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thousands of sea turtles have been rescued from the unusually cold weather experienced during the second week of January in the southeastern US. These turtles are being cared for by organizations from North Carolina to Texas. The unprecedented number of stranded sea turtles has left these organization scrambling for resources and forced them to spend funds typically budgeted for an entire year. Please help these organizations care for and return the rescued sea turtles to the wild by making a donation of money, time or materials.

Photos courtesy of NOAA

Below is a listing of organizations that need your help. This list is being constantly updated, so please check back often!

If you find a dead or injured sea turtle, please report it to the proper authorities.

NEWS

A Record 5000 Sea Turtles Cold-Stunned in Florida
2000 sea turtles rescued from unusually cold sea off Florida
Statewide turtle rescue hits historic proportions
Shocked by the biting cold, dying turtles get new life
Cold snap's toll just now being completely felt

Continue reading "Help needed to care for thousands of cold-stunned sea turtles" »

Posted by Michael Coyne at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)