August 2017  Newsletter
A Look Back 
Climate Change:  One Veterinarian’s Perspective
Save-A-Turtle is always very honored when Dr. Douglas Mader speaks for us. During our July Meeting Dr. Mader's presentation was about Climate change Dr. Mader shared some great information about what he personally has seen in the past. The presentation was really eye opening. If you missed the presentation we recorded it live and posted on facebook, you can view the entire presentation here.
Save-A-Turtle Benefit
On July 1st the Key West  Derby Dames invited Save-A-Turtle to their bout aginst Jacksonville J-Villians This event was really fun and we enjoyed hanging out with our educational trailer at the rink. The Derby Dames select different organizations to get a % of ticket sales and we were honored that they selected us for this event. Flipper High Five for the Key West Derby Dames! 
Thirty One Party Fundraiser 
Recently we had a successful online fundraiser with Thirty One. This event was completely internet based and in lieu of the host gifts, Save-A-Turtle received a 20% donation of the sales. We are always very grateful for benefits and fundraising efforts that allow us to continue to bring education and awareness to the community. We are able to have the supplies needed for our beach walkers and help with scholarships. Flipper High Five all around!  
August Events
August Meeting
Our Save-A-Turtle July Meeting will be held
 
Monday, August 7th at 6:30 pm
at The Turtle Hospital

2396 Overseas Highway

Marathon, FL 33050


We will be Screening a Movie 

& Free Popcorn

We sometimes plan, or learn about more events between our newsletters, please follow us on Social Media for current events and turtle related news. See the bottom of the newsletter for links to our social media accounts. 
SAVE THE DATE!
Sunday September 17, 2017 

Save-A-Turtle is hosting an event at the
Tropic Cinema in Key West  

Screening:
Saving Sea Turtles, Preventing Extinction

More Details to come.
Mark your calendars


Turtle Sighting's
Photo Credit: Sherri Crilly

This is an exciting and rare find in the Florida Keys, pictured here is a Kemp Ridley. This was taken at the New Found Harbor Sanctuary earlier in July! Awesome find and thank you for sharing!  
Photo Credit: Sherri Crilly 

Local Hawksbill Encounter at New Found Harbor Sanctuary  
Photo Credit: Donna and Bill 
Recently two of our nesting surveyors were on a dive trip to Bonaire. They took many beautiful photos and saw many gorgeous sights, including this beautiful photo of a Hawksbill turtle taken in about 40 feet of water at the Alice in Wonderland dive site. Our members and surveyors love turtles worldwide.
Nesting Season *Update with some Current News*
The nesting turtles in the Florida Keys seem have been off to a later start than we’ve seen in recent years, however as of this time, about 3/4 through the season, we are seeing more and more nesting activity, including even a few Green turtles on beaches that we’ve not documented in years.

We’re continuing with routine nighttime lighting surveys as well, and continue to work with residents, businesses and code compliance to stay vigilant about sea turtle friendly lighting as well

If you are interested in helping Save-A-Turtle continue its efforts please consider making a donation. 
We have hatchling's 
We conducted a nest excavation earlier this month on one of our permit beaches. While we did not see any hatchlings in person we were happy to see that we had some successful hatchlings and we wish them the best. Below are some photos from our nest excavation. 
It is important to remember that the people you see in the photos are trained and the proper permits are held in order for us to do what we do. We dig up nests and count the number of hatched vs. un hatched eggs and report if we find any hatchlings that were stuck in the nest. Everyone has on gloves not to protect us but to protect the turtles. All data we collect is sent to FWC where they use this information to learn more about sea turtles and how the species is doing overall. 

It is illegal to dig up a turtle nest without the proper training and permits please do not attempt to dig up a nest. Any disturbance to a nesting turtle, turtle nest, or hatchling would be considered a crime. All species of Sea Turtles around the world are protected and classified as either threatened or endangered.  

Violations & Lighting Updates

Lights out for Sea Turtles
We are going to continue to talk about, and educate about the lighting problems we have going on with sea turtles, until they are no longer a problem. Not only does improper lighting effect our nesting turtles but it also affects the hatchlings while they are working hard to make it back to sea. 

It is imperative that we all who live coastally (including businesses, street lights, parking decks, etc) have sea turtle compliant lighting.

There are Ordinances in place regarding what constitutes compliant lighting, plus Save-A-Turtle is here to help!

If you’re unsure what sea turtle friendly lighting is, shoot us an email at  President@Save-A-Turtle.org to discuss your lighting issues, and we can bring our mobile educational sea turtle trailer to you for a safe lighting demonstration.

Be a good steward, and remember lights out for sea turtles!
Beach furniture affects nesting turtles in Southwest...

Mote Marine Laboratory found evidence that two nesting sea turtles dragged beach furniture caught on their upper shells during the past week on Longboat Key - a reminder that southwest Floridians should remove beach furniture at night to protect...

Read more
mote.org
Save-A-Turtle has plans to attend proceedings to support a strong community presence for the innocent poaching victim, below is a link to more about the story.  
Formal charges filed in turtle case - Keys News

State prosecutors formally charged a 24-year-old man with two felonies Thursday after police say he was carrying a sea turtle hatchling on Duval Street earlier this month. Dean Everett Davis, formerly of Michigan, was charged with third-degree...

Read more
keysnews.com
Shop SAT Merchandise
Check out all of the great Save-A-Turtle Branded Merchandise available online, or at local events. 
Save A Turtle meeting will be held at The Turtle Hospital
on Monday, August 7, 2017 at 6:30pm