Ocean Sentry
Stealing the eggs is a third degree felony and a potential tragedy to those who monitor the health of local sea turtles, all of which are considered by federal law to be endangered or threatened species that struggle to perpetuate their numbers.
The man accused of stealing the eggs, homeless 52-year-old Bruce Bivins, has been caught in this act before, most recently in 1997, Ardelean said. Palm Beach Police delivered him this morning to the county jail, where he”s slated to face a judge.
As Bivins headed to jail, wildlife officials and a licensed biologist headed to the island’s beaches where 105 of the eggs were re-buried at sunrise.
Munyan reports that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has been on the lookout for turtle egg thieves in the area for a while.
Some sea turtles are considered endangered, others threatened, and all turtle eggs are protected by federal law.
Re-burying them quickly is no guarantee they will hatch. Ardelean gives them a 50/50 chance. And once they hatch, nature’s odds are also against them, he said.
“Maybe one out of the nest might make it and maybe one out of 100 of those (hatchlings) survive to maturity,” he said. “We’re willing to make that effort to give them a chance.”
(From palmbeachpost.com, by Sonja Isger)
