Wednesday, April 8, 2009

A Small Victory

Click on photos to enlarge!Hawaiian Hawksbill Sea Turtle



"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously."

Hubert Humphrey



ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


"The best way to realize the pleasure of feeling rich is to live in a smaller house than your means would entitle you to have."
Edward Clarke




Lunch in Chinatown


"The basic work of health professionals in general, and of psychotheripists in particular, is to become full human beings and to inspire full human-beingness in other people who feel starved about their lives."

Chogyam Trungpa






All those sleepless nights finally paid off. And, honestly, weren't they fun? Camping on remote Big Island (Hawaii) beaches, talking story deep into the night, as the hoku (stars) surge and spiral above. . .





From June to December for 20 years now the volunteers have spent island-hot days in coastal Puna and Ka`u trapping mongoose, feral cats and rats. For these are the culprits who feast on the hatchlings.






Our local population of Hawaiian Hawksbill Sea Turtles was in obvious decline. Finally, the volunteers decided to act; Not only culling predators, but even guarding nest sites for long nights until conditions were fulfilled.








Sometimes, wrapped in purpose & wonder on those velvet nights, the humans even witnessed an immemorial scene: female turtles emerging from the surf, hauling inch by inch, to the high water mark where they lay, and then bury, their 150 eggs. Volunteers listened to their labored breathing in the dark, a sound more ancient than the first baby's cry.





Then the mama turtles resumed their submarine flight, never knowing that guardians were standing by.




Interspecies angels.





But today turtle numbers are climbing again. One small victory in the pilgrimage of conscience. . .

A L O H A! Cloudia

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOVE it! "Interspecies angels!" Oh, I wanna go, I wanna spend the night on the beach and guard the mama's little eggs. Swam with turtles to the east of the Molokini scuba / snorkel tour, (but didn't touch them or interfere with their space!) Amazing creatures, beautiful photos! DrumMajor

the walking man said...

...and now there is another example of how man can interact with the environment and aid it to thrive.

Mongoose, feral cats,rats, Hawksbill Turtles? Which are native species and not brought on ships from the sea?

Kay said...

I'm so glad something is being done to help the sea turtles. We do have a ton of feral mongoose and cats around, that's for sure.

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

What a beautiful turtle! I hope it gets saved!!

Aloha

Silhouette of a Temple of Dwarka

claude said...

Just a short comment to tell you that the photo of the turtle is very nice.
Aloha Cloudia !

Akelamalu said...

Oh save the turtles do. Love that photo Cloudia!

Deborah Godin said...

It will be such an impoverished world if we continue to lose our biodiversity. Bless every single person who helps!!

Daryl said...

the late former VP Humphrey was so right ...

Great post!

Aloha!

The Weaver of Grass said...

It must be wonderful to live where there are those magnificent turtles Cloudia.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Cloudia, the turtle's got giraffe markings!! It must be an interspecies intergalactic angel!

DeniseinVA said...

You write so eloquently Cloudia, and this is another wonderful post. For the first time on our visit last December I saw a mongoose. I never knew of them before this trip until we met a local gentleman who told us that's what his dogs were so interested in. We were on the southwest side of the island. I hope the turtles will continue to thrive and I greatly admire the volunteers who are trying to save them.

Cloudia said...

Thank you EACH
my friends!

I've begun answering comments via e-mail......Aloha!

debi_in_Hawaii said...

Thank you for stopping by (waves toward Waikiki from my hilltop perch) LOL :)

Maria Verivaki said...

lunch in chinatown looks good to me - so many colours in that turtle too!

Barbara Martin said...

Humans are not the only ones with angels, but the earth's creatures have them too. These photos of the turles are wonderful, Cloudia, as is the post about their hatching.

Dina said...

Wow, the last three lines alone are enough to bring tears.