Catch them young

The annual ritual of releasing Olive Ridley hatchlings into the sea witnessed a surge in the number of participating youngsters, thanks to social networking sites
Giving their Sunday morning ‘sleepathon’ a miss, enthusiastic students from Pydah, Gayatri, Gitam and Andhra University, were seen wending their way to RK Beach at 5 am to take part in the ritual of releasing Olive Ridley hatchlings into the sea.This yearly practice which began in 1996, has since 2009 seen the participation of youngsters, but this year, more than three-fourths of the crowd was full of college-goers.
Attributing this rise in volunteers to the growing impact of social networking, Pradeep Nath, the founder member of Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA), says, “We have a Facebook page and through it we passed on the message to various colleges across the city. This year we are happy to see the number of young volunteers increasing.”
Apart from spreading the word via flyers, VSPCA, also works in tandem with colleges. Last year and Eco Friends Club was started in Gitam University with the motto ‘Let’s Generate Awareness’. Dr Nalini Bikkina of VSPCA, who co-ordinates these events, says, “The VSPCA’s objective is to spread awareness on bio-diversity projects. Apart for Save the Turtles initiative, the club has involved itself in several awareness campaigns like Sparrow Day, Greenathon, Save the Tiger, Save the Mammals, etc.”
However, of all the initiatives, Monami, a fourth-year MBA student, says that the Save the Olive Ridley Turtles project was the most challenging, “We had to do a lot of research before starting off on the awareness programmes. We had to go through the statistics of endangered species and as per our survey, at least 100 bodies of turtles are washed ashore along the coast, many of them with their flippers cut by boat propellers. We had the occasion to present this survey at the Indian Social Science Congress last year. We did communicate with the fishermen in the coastal region regarding the importance of the turtles and conservation of the eggs and this year, we got a positive response,” she says. Even Dr Nalini admits that that Olive Ridley project is the most difficult. She says, “This diminutive turtle is one of the most endangered species. The adult turtles come all the way from Mexico in the winter months to lay their eggs on the city’s beaches. The nestlings emerge from the sand during March and April and people tend to illegally sell them in the markets.