How Do You Help Save Sea Turtles While Visiting The Florida Keys?
Five species of sea turtles can be found in Florida waters: hawksbills, greens, loggerheads, Kemps-Ridleys, and letherbacks. None boasts a healthy population with all but the loggerhead considered an endangered species. The loggerhead, however, is considered a threatened species. There are some simple steps everyone can take to help these beautiful, graceful reptiles. Discard cigarette butts into a proper receptacle. Do not toss them into the water. When a sea turtle sees a cigarette butt floating in the water it may mistake it for a shrimp and gobble it down. These are non-digestible and do not pass through the turtle’s digestive system which can over time cause the turtle to starve to death. Do not let plastic bags of any size get away from you and blow into the water. When plastic bags float in the water they look like jellyfish to turtles and turtles love to eat jellyfish. Ingested bags can trap air bubbles in the turtle’s stomach, making it unable to dive in search of food. Keep t
