From the Inbox: Ten Turtles and Conservation International

They might not be as cuddly as pandas or as fearsome as great white sharks.

But around the world, tortoises and freshwater turtles still capture the human imagination.

Now, many of these species are in trouble – and urgent steps are necessary to protect them.

An analysis that I just concluded shows that 40 percent of the world’s freshwater turtle and tortoise species are threatened with extinction. This figure makes turtles some of the most threatened animals on the planet.

At CI’s website, you can see a slideshow of 10 of the most endangered turtles in the world. You can also submit your questions about turtles to me, Peter Paul – and I’ll answer the best of your inquiries online.

Getting your friends to ask me some questions, too, would go a long way toward helping us spread not just amazing science facts, but also an important message about the danger freshwater turtles face worldwide. Can you share this link with your friends?

www.conservation.org/turtles

Protecting Biodiversity In many instances, the dwindling number of turtles can be attributed to the hunting of the animals for meat. Turtles also suffer because of a lucrative (and often illegal) pet trade.

Other species declines, however, are directly related to habitat loss. That’s a sign that the rivers, streams and lakes that millions of humans rely upon for irrigation, food and water could be in trouble, too.

At CI, we’ve dedicated ourselves to protecting biodiversity, the amazing array of life around the world, for more than 25 years. Species perform all kinds of services for humans. They provide our diet, clean up our drinking water, take carbon pollution out of the atmosphere and so much more. People need nature to thrive.

That’s why we’re raising awareness of the plight of freshwater turtles.

It’s also why we’re headed to this year’s Convention on Biological Diversity, a global summit of governments that have agreed to protect species around the world.

There, we’ll be asking governments to make two simple, but powerful, commitments: Set aside 15 percent of the world’s oceans as protected areas. Do the same for 25 percent of land.

If that much of the Earth were protected, it would be a major step forward toward shielding all species – the building blocks of life on Earth – from extinction.

Those efforts can start today. Tell your friends that a CI science expert is answering your questions about freshwater turtles and tortoises. You’ll learn an amazing fact or three, and you’ll be helping to let the world know about the importance of protecting biodiversity.

Thanks for your support.

Sincerely,

Peter Paul van Dijk
Director, Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Conservation Program at Conservation International

Red-crowned river turtle photo © CI/ Peter Paul van Dijk Family © Olivier Langrand

From the Inbox - Support Critical Sea Turtle Protections

Donate Now to Help Protect Sea Turtles

Help us raise critical funds to get loggerhead sea turtles the stronger protections they deserve. Donate

Dear Friend,

Loggerhead sea turtles are in serious trouble.

That shouldn't come as a shock when you consider the dangers they face: climate change, destructive fishing practices in their foraging areas, loss of nesting habitat. All of this plus the oil in the Gulf will cause long term harm to loggerheads.

Loggerhead sea turtles could get stronger protections that will help them survive many of the challenges they face, including the pollution from the BP oil disaster. But we need to increase our campaign efforts.

Please donate now to help us protect vulnerable populations of loggerhead sea turtles by making sure they receive increased protections

Our campaigners are working hard to reclassify loggerheads as endangered with extinction to get the support that will help them survive the many challenges they face. It is time for us to protect sea turtles and rebuild their populations to healthy levels as a vital step in ensuring healthy and resilient oceans for the future.

Without your support, the future of sea turtles is uncertain. Make a donation today and help our work to gain comprehensive protections for sea turtles

Even at diminished population levels turtles play an important role in ocean ecosystems by maintaining healthy seagrass beds and coral reefs, providing key habitat for other marine life, helping to balance marine food webs and facilitating nutrient cycling from water to land.

Please give your most generous gift before it’s too late and help us continue our work to protect sea turtles

For the oceans,
Jeff Wiedner
Director, E-Activism
Oceana

From the Inbox: You can save turtles!

Sea Turtles in Trouble Habitat destruction, both on land and in water, capture in commercial fishing gear, and pollution threaten to drive loggerheads to extinction. Human activity has endangered loggerheads existence, but you can help save them. Act Now to Protect Loggerheads	THE COMPASS, 8/31 Oceana updates from the North, South, East, and West Sea Turtles in Trouble Oceana in the Gulf Vote for Oceana Pristine Punta de Choros Protected from Coal-Fired Power Plant Morocco Bans Driftnets Stay in the Oceana Loop
Oceana in the Gulf Earlier this month, Oceana set sail on a two month research expedition to study the damage done by the BP oil spill disaster. Oceana crew and experts will tag sharks, assess fragile ecosystems, and study underwater oil plumes. Help support our research expedition. Give today and your gift will be matched, up to $50,000
Vote for Oceana With just one vote a week, you can help secure $200,000 for ocean conservation. As a part of a new corporate social responsibility effort from American Express and TakePart, every three months, five charities will be chosen to each receive $200,000 in funding from American Express. The new round just opened yesterday, so vote today to help protect sharks, turtles, and your oceans. Vote for Oceana once a week
Pristine Punta de Choros Protected from Coal-Fired Power Plant Fantastic news for endangered blue whales, Humboldt penguins, and Chile! Chilean President Sebastian Piñera persuaded Suez Energy not to build its power plant near the marine protected area of Punta de Choros. He also asked his cabinet to review all the industrial projects being considered in the country to see whether they could affect protected areas. Learn more about this victory
Morocco Bans Driftnets Great news in the battle against illegal fishing: Morocco has passed an amendment banning the use, possession, manufacture or sale of driftnets. Known as "curtains of death," driftnets are a type of illegal fishing gear that can be nearly 100 feet high and 12 miles long. Because they are so indiscriminate, driftnets snag whatever's in their path, including many marine mammals and other endangered species. Read more
Stay in the Oceana Loop Want to know the latest ocean news? Be the first to get new action alerts? Make sure that you are an Oceana fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all things Oceana.

From the Inbox: Help baby turtles in the Gulf today!

Dear Friend, There are few things in nature more captivating than watching tiny sea turtle babies digging out of their beachside nests and making their way to the sea. Tragically, in portions of the Gulf Coast region right now, sea turtle hatchlings are heading straight into waters that have been contaminated by toxic oil. An entire generation of loggerhead sea turtles — a threatened species — could die when they encounter the oil. Help baby sea turtles now! National Wildlife Federation has teamed up with the Sea Turtle Conservancy to execute immediate and longer-term plans to make the Gulf safe again for sea turtle hatchlings. Right now, our team is relocating loggerhead sea turtle eggs in the Florida Panhandle to safer waters along the Atlantic Coast far from the spill site. Moving the eggs is risky, but leaving the baby sea turtles to die is simply not an option. We’re working to ensure that should the maturing hatchlings find their way back to the Gulf, they’ll be greeted as thousands of generations of sea turtles have, with clean water, plenty of food, and safe habitats to breed the next generation of small wonders. Your gift today will go directly to giving sea turtle hatchlings a fighting chance. Please give now. Every dollar you give will be matched, up to $75,000, thanks to a generous challenge grant from a Florida sea turtle enthusiast. The loggerhead eggs are beginning to hatch, so we’re running out of time. Please give your most generous gift before it’s too late. Every dollar will be DOUBLED and go directly to conserving sea turtles. Sincerely, Larry Schweiger President & CEO Sea turtle hatchlings need your help TODAY $75,000 Matching Grant DOUBLES Your Gift! “My wife and I make a point every year to be at the beach during sea turtle hatching season. I’m always awestruck at the spectacle of the sea turtles hatching and the tiny babies heading out to sea. I’m heartbroken to think of all those turtles encountering oil and little chance to survive. We have to do absolutely everything we can to save the hatchlings, and that’s why I’m offering to match every dollar National Wildlife Federation donors give to this cause, up to $75,000. Please give today!” - Anonymous, Sarasota Florida

Deal struck to save turtles from Gulf oil burns

Environmental groups, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard reached tentative agreement on Friday, July 2nd, on measures to prevent sea turtles (left: loggerhead turtle) from being incinerated alive in controlled burns of spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The deal would settle a lawsuit accusing BP of violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act and terms of its lease with the federal government for the deep-sea well that ruptured on April 20, unleashing the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

Among the creatures most at risk from the incineration of oil at sea are the endangered Kemp's Ridley turtle (right), the smallest known sea turtles in the world and among the rarest.

Endangered sea turtles and other marine creatures were being corralled into 500 square-mile "burn fields" and burnt alive in operations intended to contain oil from BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration confirmed.

The killing of the turtles – some of which are on the brink of extinction – has outraged environmentalists and could have put BP into deeper legal jeopardy.

Environmental organizations were demanding that the oil company stop blocking rescue of the turtles, and were pressing the US administration to halt the burning and look at prosecuting BP and its contractors for killing endangered species during the cleanup operation. Harming or killing a sea turtle carries fines of up to $50,000

The four conservation groups bringing the suit amended the complaint on Thursday, July 1, to add the Coast Guard as a defendant.

Under the accord reached in talks on Thursday evening and Friday (July 2) morning, the parties agreed to a plan allowing biologists or other trained wildlife observers to accompany oil-incineration vessels at sea to remove as many turtles as possible from designated areas before burning starts.

Private boat captains chartered for wildlife rescue missions in the Gulf said in affidavits filed with the lawsuit that young sea turtles tend to congregate among oil blobs floating in the water, apparently unable to distinguish between the oil and mats of seaweed that provide natural shelter on the surface of the Gulf.

The turtles are then presumably swept up and unable to escape when shrimp boats contracted for cleanup operations are used to drag fire-resistant booms to encircle the floating oil before it is set ablaze.

The interim agreement was presented in federal court in New Orleans on Friday to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is presiding over the case, and the plaintiffs suspended their request for an immediate court order to bar future oil burns.

"The parties have agreed between now and next week on implementing an additional measures to ensure any endangered species are protected," Barbier said. "We are not going to litigate today."

Precise details of the plan for safeguarding turtles will be worked out on an "expedited basis" between the Coast Guard and a group of scientists, with input from the plaintiffs, said Todd Steiner, head of the Turtle Island Restoration Network.

He said the agreed-upon procedures will be announced "on a very fast track for public comment so that it can be finalized as soon as possible."

The government says at least 275 controlled burns have been conducted in the Gulf since the spill, removing some 10 million gallons (37.8 million liters) of oil from the open water.

BP said in documents responding to the lawsuit that the "relief that plaintiffs are seeking ... is largely already being undertaken" by BP and the government's oil spill command.

Joining the Turtle Island Restoration Network as plaintiffs in the case, 2:10-cv-01866-KDE-DEK, are the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Source:
Reuters, "Deal struck to save turtles from Gulf oil burns", accessed July 4, 2010
SeaTurtles, "Obama confirms BP burned turtles", accessed July 4, 2010

From the Inbox: Help Sea Turtles TODAY!

		Sea Turtles in the Frying Pan Oiled sea turtles like just this one may have been burned alive last week during attempts to contain the current Gulf oil disaster. Send an email. Tell U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and officials in the Obama administration that you oppose their 5-year offshore leasing plan that would encourage even MORE dangerous drilling off our coasts. Dear Friend, It’s a horrifying story: Last week, a Gulf ship captain reported seeing sea turtles burned alive in an attempt to keep oil off the Gulf coast. [2] BP – the company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon blowout and subsequent Gulf oil disaster – was trying to contain and prevent the oil from reaching coastal beaches and marshes by burning it at sea. Sadly, no one told the sea turtles – and it now appears that the lives of some threatened and endangered sea turtles (already hurt by the oil) may have been lost. Areas of oiled ocean are now being surveyed for sea turtles before burning, but that is only a stopgap measure. Help prevent the next drilling disaster. Tell the Obama administration that you oppose their 5-year offshore leasing proposal – a proposal that would encourage more dangerous drilling off the coasts of Florida, Alaska, North Carolina and other Gulf and Atlantic coastal states. The deadline for public comments is today (June 30th), soplease take action right now. So far, at least 429 threatened and endangered sea turtles have been confirmed dead since oil first began spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. . However, many more sea turtles have likely been lost from the oil spill but not found… and many more would certainly die when baby turtles begin to hatch in the coming weeks. That is why agencies are collecting the eggs from the nests they know of for transfer to Atlantic Florida beaches that are free from oil. Sea turtles will die from ingesting too much oil. And like us, they can drown. Sea turtles need to surface to breathe, which is hard to do when the ocean’s surface is coated with toxic oil. The survival of sea turtles is precarious, and the human-caused loss of even one turtle is too much. We need to act now to help protect the beaches of North Carolina (another important nesting ground for sea turtles) and other states where dolphins, whales and birds rely on healthy coastal ecosystems to survive. Send your message now, and let the Obama administration know that you oppose dangerous new offshore drilling. But preventing new offshore drilling isn’t just about protecting threatened and endangered sea turtles. As the Gulf oil disaster clearly demonstrates, entire economies are at risk. Clean-up workers can become sick. And an entire marine and coastal wildlife system is at risk of being lost to Big Oil’s hubris. To send a loud, clear message to the Obama administration, we need just 800 more people from Alabama to take action before tomorrow, so please send your message right away, and then forward this message and/or share this action on Facebook and Twitter. For the Wild Ones, Jamie Rappaport ClarkExecutive Vice President Defenders of Wildlife P.S. As a former head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a career biologist and a mother, I can’t stress enough how important it is that we prevent more dangerous drilling off our coasts and that you send your message today.

From the Inbox: Help save sea turtles

		Take Action to Stop More Drilling Disasters The Obama administration has proposed a 5-year plan for offshore oil and gas drilling that would open up huge swaths of our coasts to dangerous drilling – risking the lives of countless sea turtles, endangered whales, sea birds, polar bears and other wildlife. Take action! Tell Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Obama administration that you oppose dangerous new offshore drilling off our coasts. Help us send 60,000 messages by Wednesday's deadline for public comments. Take action now and forward this message to at least 3 friends. Dear Friend, At a time when millions of gallons of oil are still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, wreaking havoc on sea turtles, brown pelicans, sperm whales and irreplaceable coastal and marine ecosystems, it seems inconceivable that the Obama administration would consider more dirty, dangerous offshore drilling. Yet, incredibly, that’s exactly what’s happening. Take a stand for imperiled sea turtles and other marine wildlife. Urge the Obama administration to reject calls for offshore drilling off the coasts of Florida, Alaska, Virginia, North Carolina and other coastal states. As of yesterday, more than 1,000 birds, 400 sea turtles and 40 marine mammals are already confirmed dead due to the Gulf oil disaster. Far more birds, sea turtles, whales, dolphins and other wildlife are likely dead or dying as a result of the ongoing oil leak in the Gulf. The scale of this ecological catastrophe is massive. Yet drilling proponents persist in their calls to industrialize our coasts and sacrifice our marine wildlife at the altar of Big Oil’s profit margins. The Obama administration had announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling, temporarily blocked planned drilling in the fragile Chukchi Sea and deployed thousands of federal workers to respond to the disaster in Gulf. On Tuesday, however, a federal judge in Houston – with a history of significant financial investment in oil companies drilling the Gulf -- overturned the six-month ban on deepwater offshore drilling. The Obama administration plans to appeal the ruling and take administrative action to uphold the ban. Ironically, the administration itself is also considering a 5-year leasing plan for offshore drilling that would approve new oil and gas drilling along the Mid-Atlantic and South-Atlantic coasts, on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and in the Arctic Ocean – risking the lives of countless sea turtles, endangered whales, sea birds, polar bears and other wildlife. Speak out for our coastal wildlife and communities. Send your comments to the Obama Administration now. In the face of the tragedy in the Gulf, we must make our voices heard. All comments are due by Wednesday (June 30th), so please take action now, forward this message and help us reach our 60,000-message goal. With Gratitude, Richard Charter Senior Policy Advisor, Marine Programs Defenders of Wildlife Defending Wildlife Tomorrow, Defenders of Wildlife will join groups from across America, participating in Hands Across the Sand events to oppose dangerous new drilling. To find an event near you, visit http://www.handsacrossthesand.com/organize-join-a-beach/ This week, Defenders of Wildlife’s legal team moved to stop Big Oil’s attempt to block a temporary moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling, opposing the oil industry in federal court in Houston. Incredibly, a judge who has had significant financial ties to the oil industry ruled to lift the ban. However, the Obama administration plans to appeal the decision – a move supported by Defenders. So far, Defenders has mobilized more than 61,000 caring people like you in support of additional protections for loggerhead sea turtles. Loggerheads – already in trouble before the Gulf oil disaster – are particularly vulnerable to oil and can drown or be poisoned when they become oiled. Defenders has also mobilized to prevent threatened and endangered sea turtles from being burned to death as part of the controlled oil burns occurring in the desperate attempt to reduce oil from the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf. Last week, more than 31,000 Defenders supporters urged Senate Democrats to pass comprehensive legislation to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels and address the impacts of climate change without opening additional coastal areas to offshore drilling.

Brown pelican long a symbol of survival

Long before the brown pelican came to symbolize the tragedy of the Gulf oil spill, the giant bird stood for something much greater: survival against all odds.

The state bird of Louisiana was nearly wiped out by pesticides in the 1950s and 1960s. Yet after decades of conservation efforts, the brown pelican just last year was removed from the endangered species list.

"At a time when so many species of wildlife are threatened, we once in a while have an opportunity to celebrate an amazing success story," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar declared on November 11. "Today is such a day. The brown pelican is back."

Now, eight months later, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal stands on the deck of a boat near Pelican Island off the Louisiana coast. He's surveying efforts to protect the state's wetlands. He's ordered the National Guard to begin building barriers in the ocean to try to stop the oil from reaching shore.

Yet Jindal pauses to talk about the brown pelican. The recent images of pelicans, coated in BP oil like grotesque statues, have taken on the symbolism of the spill. Louisiana has long been known as the "Pelican State," with the bird gracing the state flag.

"Here's what's really sad," Jindal said. "For every one of those mother adult pelicans you're saving, there are many more back there that you can't get to. And for every mother pelican you're saving, there may be a nest, there may be eggs that can't be saved.

"And that's the tragedy in this: That for every animal we see, what's this oil doing to their young? What's this oil doing to their life cycles?"

The recovery of the pelicans, before the spill, was largely attributed to the ban of the toxic chemical DDT in 1972. The pesticide traveled down the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico.

Three species were most affected: the brown pelican, the bald eagle and peregrine falcon. A component of DDT accumulated in each of those birds and, as a result, it affected the strength of the eggs they laid.

"The result was that you had thinner egg shells in the nest. During incubation, all the species had the tendency to break the eggs more easily," said Dr. Doug Inkey, a senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. "This resulted in a huge population decline in all three species."

The bald eagle, peregrine falcon and brown pelican were all listed on the endangered species list. In the case of the brown pelican, wildlife officials in Louisiana and Florida teamed up to help save the bird over a 13-year period. A total of 1,276 young pelicans were captured in Florida and then released at three sites in southeastern Louisiana, according to the Interior Department.

"When their populations were low, we brought in those brown pelicans from Florida," Jindal said. "Now, when we capture them oiled, clean them up and rehabilitate them, we have to release them back in Florida to get away from this oil."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has deployed more than 450 people across the Gulf to respond to the nation's worst environmental disaster. As of Monday, the oil threatened 36 National Wildlife Refuges. Nearly 1,200 birds have been saved, including 728 in Louisiana.

Ron Britton of the Fish and Wildlife Service gave a CNN crew a tour of the marsh islands near Grand Isle, Louisiana, a prime breeding ground where oiled pelicans have been spotted.

"What you're trying to do is get in and get those as quick as you can," Britton told CNN. "But the ones you're missing have less chance each night you can't get back. And the ones we don't get back, we're pretty sure are going somewhere and not surviving."

Oil affects pelicans in various ways. The birds' feathers interlock in a way that helps regulate cooling and, when oil soaks their feathers, the birds lose the ability to do that, biologists say.

"Brown pelicans dive into the water for fish. As they break the water, that's one of the ways they contact the oil. Then, once it's on their feathers, the birds preen daily," said Jennifer Coulson, president of the Orleans Audubon Society.

"When they're preening, they ingest all the BP oil. And so, that's another way they get sick and die."

Inkey of the National Wildlife Federation added, "When they get back to their nests, then they rub some of the oil from their chests to their eggs -- and oil on eggs is not a good mix. It's usually deadly for the developing embryo."

Inkey recently visited a brown pelican-nesting habitat along the Louisiana coast. Hundreds of the birds lived together in nests about 6 feet high in mangrove trees along the shore. There were two layers of protective booms surrounding the island that were "close to being worthless."

"We saw more oil inside the booms than we saw outside the booms," he said. "It was surrounded by a bathtub ring of oil."

His first thought: What's going to happen to the pelicans this year?

"This is the worst-case scenario: It's during breeding season," he said. "We're likely to lose a whole generation of young of many different species. ... It only takes once for a bird to really get messed up in oil for it to have an effect on the nesting success."

He and other biologists said it's far too early to know the full effect of the oil spill on the larger population of brown pelicans -- and whether the bird would ever make it back to the endangered species list. "It would be premature to suggest that," Inkey said.

Biologists said the pelican -- known for its long beak with a hooked tip and its 6-foot wingspan -- is better equipped to survive than smaller birds that ingest oil in greater proportion to their size. In addition, there are five species of sea turtles in the Gulf, and all are endangered or threatened.

"A sea turtle hatchling does not stand a chance," Inkey said.

Regardless, it's a dire situation for all types of wildlife in the region, biologists said.

Yet it was the images of the oil-soaked pelicans that brought home the scope of the disaster -- and its potential devastating consequences. The birds survived DDT, the constant erosion of Louisiana wetlands and Hurricane Katrina.

Inkey already had returned from his visit when the photos first appeared. "I got sick in my stomach," he said. "I had seen oiled pelicans, but not like that. The ones I saw were simply gray. These were just heartbreaking."

Source:
Cable News Network, "Brown pelican long a symbol of survival", accessed June 15, 2010

From the Inbox - Horrifying

Take Action for Sea Turtles Young turtles like the Kemp’s ridley above are especially imperiled by oil on beaches and in the water. Loggerheads, now listed as threatened, need new protections in the wake of the Gulf offshore oil disaster. Urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to list loggerhead sea turtles as endangered. Please help us send 50,000 messages by Monday, June 14th. Take action now and encourage a friend to do the same. Dear Friend, As a career biologist, former Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Executive Vice President of Defenders of Wildlife, I’m no stranger to animals in distress. But what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico right now is an unprecedented ecological disaster. It is threatening sea turtles, sperm whales, dolphins, brown pelicans, Atlantic bluefin tuna and scores of other species… along with entire ecosystems. Today you can help me save one of most visible victims of the Gulf offshore oil disaster: imperiled loggerhead sea turtles. Urge the Obama administration to improve protections for these amazing seafarers by listing them as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Please take action now. Today I’m in the Gulf, meeting with senior officials in charge of the oil clean-up and response. Tomorrow I’ll be on one of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s response boats, surveying the damage… and dreading the sight of sea turtles, birds and other wildlife caught in the massive oil slick that’s growing by the day in the Gulf. I’ll be working with government officials for as long as it takes to protect the wildlife that are innocent victims of BP’s negligence – all the wildlife victims. But today I need your help to save one species in particular: loggerhead sea turtles. Help ensure loggerheads get the life-saving protections they need. Please send your message to federal officials now. Loggerhead sea turtles were in trouble before the Gulf oil spill disaster. The number of female loggerheads nesting on Florida beaches – one of the most important habitats for the species – has declined by 50 percent in the past decade. Scientists and government officials have sounded the alarm about what this could mean for the future of the ancient sea mariners. The National Marine Fisheries Service is now proposing to upgrade protection for loggerheads from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act. These turtles need our help even more now. The world’s second-largest loggerhead nesting area is on the beaches of the southeastern United States, the vast majority of which includes Florida’s central Atlantic beaches. This area is expected to be threatened by the horrific oil slick, depending on how much of the slick gets picked up by the Loop Current -- a powerful ocean current that could bring the slick around the southern reaches of the state, through the sensitive coral reef and mangrove areas of the Everglades and the Keys, and then into the Gulf Stream and up the east coast of Florida. The spill could not have happened at a worse time: loggerheads and other sea turtles -- as well as many shorebirds -- are in the peak of their nesting seasons right now. Oil is extremely toxic to loggerheads and other species. Exposure can cause skin loss, poisoning, drowning and death… which is exactly why we need every available tool to help save the lives of individual loggerheads and save this species from extinction. Today you can do something concrete to help save wildlife impacted by the disaster in the Gulf by helping to save loggerhead sea turtles from extinction. Please take action now. We’ll do everything we can to save the lives of wildlife impacted by this environmental catastrophe. I hope you will too. With Gratitude, Jamie Rappaport Clark Executive Vice President Defenders of Wildlife P.S. Please be sure to follow our blog (http://www.defendersblog.org) and updates on Facebook and Twitter. I’ll be posting from the Gulf all week as we work to protect coastal wildlife from toxic oil.